SH 221 
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I Copy 1 



DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

BUREAU OF FISHERIES 

HUGH M. SMITH, CommUiJon«r 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY 



By A. B. Alexander, H. F. Moore 
and W* C Kendall 

V, S. Bureau of Fisheries 



APPENDIX VI TO THE REPORT OF THE U. S. COMMISSIONER 
OF FISHERIES FOR 19X4 




Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 816 



WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1915 



fcionogrgpi 



DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

BUREAU OF FISHERIES 

HUGH M. SMITH, Commissioner 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY 



By A. B. Alexander, H. F. )VIoore 
and W. C. Kendall 

V. S. Bureau of Fisheries 



APPENDIX VI TO THE REPORT OF THE U. S. COMMISSIONER 
OF FISHERIES FOR X9I4 




Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 816 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1915 






ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAT BE PROCURED FROM 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

AT 

15 CENTS PER COPY 



APR 33 1915 



V 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY 



By A, B. Alexander, H. F. Moore 
and W. C. Kendall 

U. S. Bureau of Fisheries 



Appendix VI to the Report of the U. S Commissioner 
of Fisheries for 1914 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 
Communication from the Commissioner of Fisheries to the Secretary of 

Commerce 5 

Letter from Bureau committee to the Commissioner of Fisheries 11 

Introduction 13 

The American bank fisheries 14 

General considerations 14 

Hand-line and trawl-line vessels 15 

Otter-trawl vessels 19 

Fishing banks of western North Atlantic 22 

Comparison of the catch by otter-trawl and trawl-line vessels 24 

Waste from marketing small fishes 28 

Edible fishes wasted and new kinds marketed 30 

Fluctuations in the catcb and evidences of impoverishment of the 

fishery 31 

Denudation of the bottom by otter trawlers 43 

Destruction of spawn by otter trawlers 48 

Interference of the otter trawl with other fisheries 48 

General economic and sociological questions 49 

Effects of otter trawling on the price of fish 50 

Insufficiency of data 55 

Minor American trawlnet fisheries 56 

Cape Cod flounder fishery 5G 

San Francisco paranzella fishery 57 

Demersal fisheries of England and Wales » 57 

Introduction 57 

Fishing regions 58 

Fisheries of the North Sea 60 

Summary of conditions in the North Sea 68 

Iceland 69 

White Sea , 72 

Faroe 74 

Demersal fisheries of Scotland 76 

Fishing regions 76 

Fisheries of the east coast 76 

The catch as a whole 76 

Steam trawlers 79 

Scotch line fisheries 86 

Changes in the unclassified fishes > 88 

Summary, east coast of Scotland 89 

Summary and conclusions 90 

Recommendations 94 

3 



(COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES TO THE 
\ SECRETARY OF COMMERCE, TRANSMITTING A REPORT ON THE 
OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY AND MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS REGARD- 
ING THAT FISHERY. 



Department of Commerce, 

Bureau of Fisheries, 
Washington, January 20, 1915. 
The Secretary of Commerce : 

There is forwarded herewith, for transmission to Congress, a re- 
jport embodying the results of an investigation by the Bureau of 
Fisheries of the method of fishing known as otter trawling. The 
(investigation was undertaken, and this report thereon is submitted, 
(pursuant to the authority contained in the act approved August 24, 
1912, making appropriations for sundry-civil expenses of the Gov- 
ernment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, as follows : 

To enable the Commissioner of Fisheries to investigate the method of fish- 
ing known as beam or otter trawling and to report to Congress whether or not 
this method of fishing is destructive to the fish species or is otherwise harm- 
ful or undesirable, $5,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary. 

A similar provision was contained in the sundry civil appropria- 
tion act for the following year, the sum voted being for the comple- 
tion of the investigation. 

In anticipation of the foregoing action by Congress, preliminary 
inquiries were begun on otter trawlers operating out of Boston in 
June, 1912. On September 30, 1912, Mr. A. B. Alexander, assistant 
in charge of the division of statistics and methods of the fisheries, 
was ordered to proceed to Boston and other places to determine on 
methods for prosecuting the inquiry, but it was not until December 
l 28, 1912, that he was given definite authority to proceed with the 
work. Mr. Alexander had exclusive charge of the field investiga- 
tions, with headquarters in Boston, and, with the exception of insig- 
nificant intervals, was continuously in the field during the calendar 
year 1913; and he is responsible for the methods followed and the 
data collected. 

Under the plan of investigation adopted, men in the employ of the 
Bureau were placed on a number of the vessels, both otter trawlers 
and trawl liners, to make personal observations and records of the 
practices of the fisheries and the character of the catch. To each 

5 



Q OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

man there were issued the following instructions and schedule of the 
salient points at issue : 

INSTRUCTIONS FOB OTTEB-TRAWL INVESTIGATIONS. 

The general purpose of the investigation is to determine the efficiency of the 
apparatus employed and its effects upon the fishes and the fishery. 
The principal points to be considered are as follows : 

1. The defining of each separate fishing area over which the trawl wa 
worked. If within sight of land, giving the bearing of the nearest point o 
land and the distance from shore. If out of sight of land, giving the name o 
the fishing bank, and, if possible, the latitude and longitude. 

2. The days and dates trawling was carried on. 

3. The number of times the trawl was lifted each day. 

4. The length of time the trawl was down on each occasion before lifting. 

5. The speed of the vessel when trawling. 

6. The weather conditions each day. 

7. The kinds of fish taken from the net after each haul. 

8. The quantity of fish, including shellfish, taken in each haul, showing th 
quantity of each kind and its proportion to the whole catch. (This should be 
ascertained by actual count or measurement, if possible. If this can not be 
done, then the closest possible approximation should be made.) 

9. The quantity and kind of immature edible fish taken in each haul and the 
proportion of such to the whole. 

10. What disposal was made of such immature fish, and what disposal was 
made of all nonedible fish taken. 

11. The proportion of fish that were alive when each haul was brought on 
deck, and the kinds mostly found to be alive. 

12. If immature and nonedible fish were thrown overboard, the percentage ol 
each kind that were alive when returned to the sea and the percentage than* 
would be likely to survive. 

13. The size, up to which the various kinds of fish were regarded as immature 
and unmarketable by the captain of the trawler. 

14. The number of times the trawl was worked over the same piece of ground 
in succession, showing whether the second or further drags were as successful 
as the first. 

15. Whether fish eggs or spawn (except what might be emitted from the 
fish in the net by their own weight) were taken on any occasion, and if so, tbe 
kinds taken. 

16. Whether fry of any fish were taken on any occasion, naming the kinds. 

17. Whether ordinary fishing vessels at work were within sight on any occa- 
sion during trawling operation, and if so, giving the distance between such 
vessels and the trawler. 

18. Whether any nets, lines, or other fishing gear were carried away or 
whether the fishing success of such gear was interfered with in any way by 
the presence of the trawler. 

19. Details should be given showing the kinds of gear, where it was set, and 
the quantity damaged in each instance. 

OTTEE TEAWLERS. 

Urgent representations have been made to this Bureau to the effect that the 
method of fishing known as otter trawling, which has been introduced on this 
side of the Atlantic only a few years ago, is such an unduly destructive method 
that if generally adopted the lines and other gear of ordinary fishing vessels 



OTTER- TKAWL FISHERY. 7 

Will be continually carried away and destroyed and the fishing grounds quickly 
endered nonproductive. The representations take the following form: 

1. That the fishing areas where steam trawlers have already been operating 
ave become seriously depleted of fish. 

2. That the spawn or eggs of fish are destroyed by the trawlnet when being 
ragged along the bottom. 

3. That immature fish are taken in very large numbers, which are killed in 
e process of capture and are thrown away. 

4. That valuable shellfish are destroyed in large numbers. 

5. That steam trawlers carry on operations at night as well as in the day- 
ime, and that although an effort might be made to keep clear of the ordinary 
Sherman's gear during daylight, no such effort would be made in the darkness, 
wing to the invisibility of the buoys and other floating marks. 

6. That it is not an uncommon thing for a steam trawler to come close to 
■rdinary fishing vessels and their dories when the gear of the latter is in the 
rater and being overhauled, and, if fish appear plentiful, to sweep around the 
)Ot and with the trawlnet carry away the gear with all the fish on the hooks. 

7. Further, that while steam trawling has been prohibited within the terri- 
prial waters of Canada, such protection affords the inshore fisherman little 
protection, as their gear is frequently set even long distances beyond territorial 
vaters, and it, of course, affords no protection whatever to the " bank " fisher- 
men. 

I On the other hand it is urged : 

1. That steam trawling is not an unduly destructive method of fishing, as 
evidence of which is the fact that it has been intensively carried on in the 

orth Sea and other European waters for very many years without any diminu- 
on of the fisheries being apparent. 

2. That continuous supplies are necessary to meet the demands of the grow- 
ng fresh-fish markets, and that as steam trawling can be carried on in practi- 
cally all weathers, it is the only means of providing such continuous supplies. 

3. That edible flat fishes, for which there is an evergrowing market, and which 
lire taken in very limited quantities by hook and line, can be secured in large 
quantities by steam trawlers. 

The men were supplied also with printed forms on which to record 
full data respecting the date, location, duration, and length of each 
haul; the numbers and sizes of each species of commercial fish taken; 
and the numbers and sizes of edible fish of species never, or not 
usually, placed on the markets. They were required to record, also, 
all observations of facts bearing on the points in dispute, the condi- 
tion (living or dead) of the fish thrown overboard, the amount and 
character of the bottom material brought up in the trawls, any inter- 
ference with or damage to trawl lines, etc. 

The men making the observations on the vessels were : 

W. W. Welsh, assistant, Bureau of Fisheries, Washington, D. C. 

Thomas M. Douthart, Boston, Mass. 

Frank S. Terry, New York, N. Y. 

John H. Brennan, Port Clyde, Me. 

John N. Burrows, Southport, Me. 

Allan L. Black, McKinley, Me. 

Walter H. Eich. Portland, Me. 



8 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

In addition, Dr. W. C. Kendall, assistant, Bureau of Fisheries 
made observations on the flounder otter-trawl fishery of Cape Co 
in November and December, 1912 ; and Mr. E. C. Johnston, assistant 
Bureau of Fisheries, investigated the paranzella-net fishery of Sa 
Francisco in September and October, 1912. 

With the exception of Mr. Terry, who made but one trip, all o 
these observers had knowledge of the fisheries, although, with th 
exception of Mr. Burrows, who had fished on a line trawler out c 
Gloucester 15 years or more previously, none was or had been ei 
gaged in either the trawl-line or otter-trawl fisheries. An effort wa 
made to obtain men capable of understanding and reporting on th 
matters which came under observation and at the same time as fr 
as possible from prejudice by reason of their vocations and previo 
associations. 

During June, 1912, the observers made three trips on otter-tra 
vessels and recorded the data of 101 hauls of the nets. From Jam! 
ary to December, 1913, 61 trips were made and 1,532 hauls were ob 
served on otter trawlers; and from June to December, 1913, 17 trip; 
and 9® sets of trawl lines were observed on schooners. 

The field investigations were brought to a close in December, 191^ 
and on February 5, 1914, the Commissioner of Fisheries named fc 
the consideration of the data and the preparation of a report a com 
mittee of three, of which Mr. A. B. Alexander was chairman anc 
Messrs. H. F. Moore, assistant in charge of scientific inquiry, aiv 
W. C. Kendall, scientific assistant, were members. The orders unde 
which this committee proceeded were as follows : 

You are hereby designated a committee charged with the duties hereinafte 
indicated in connection with the investigation of the American trawlnet fishery, 
as directed by Congress in the sundry civil appropriation act for 1913, as fo\ 
lows : y 

" To enable the Commissioner of Fisheries to investigate the method of fish- 
ing known as beam or otter trawling and to report to Congress whether or notl 
this method of fishing is destructive to the species or is otherwise harmful orm 
undesirable, $5,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary." 

Your inquiries will involve, first, a thorough consideration and interpretation 
of the data collected by the Bureau of Fisheries regarding the steam trawlnet 
fishery of Boston and New York, the boat trawlnet fishery of New England, 
the paranzella fishery of California, and other similar fisheries in various parts 
of the United States, special attention being given to the detailed records ob- 
tained by agents of the Bureau while stationed continuously on trawling vessels 
during the years 1912 and 1913. 

For comparative purposes, you will naturally give consideration to the avail- 
able data showing the present extent and geueral condition of the trawl fishery 
in Europe, and the steps that have been taken by the various European coun- 
tries to regulate, restrict, or abolish the fishery ; and the recent history of the 
fishery in Japan and Canada, and the action of those countries in regulating 
or abolishing the trawlnet fishery. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 9 

It is not my purpose in any way to influence the form and scope of your 
(report, but I venture to suggest that your conclusions cover the following topics, 
which, with others, will doubtless occur to you : 

(a) The general effects of the fishery on the permanency of the fish supply, 
and a comparison of the relative effects of the trawlnet and other forms of 
/apparatus used in the same waters. 

(6) The nature and extent of the destruction of young food fishes. 

(c) The destruction or waste of edible fishes that have no present market 
C ralue. 

(d) The extent to which the trawlnet fishery of the United States has con- 
ributed to the food supply in fishes, not generally taken with other apparatus. 

! (e) Definite instances, supported by evidence, in which the scarcity of any 
,;inds of fish on given grounds may be attributable to the trawlnet fishery. 
/ (/) Interference of the trawlnet fishery with other fisheries. 

(g) The necessity for international agreement with Canada, Newfoundland, 
^ance, and other countries in order to make effective any restrictive or pro- 
ibitory measures that may be determined to be desirable. 
It is believed that in drawing your conclusions and making your recom- 
mendations you will be guided solely by the evidence afforded by the Bureau's 
investigations and by the action of other countries having prolonged experience 
with this method of fishery. 

, It is desired that the preparation of your report be expedited as much as 
w>ssible, and that it be handed to me for administrative approval and sub- 
' Jiitted. to Congress not later than April 15, 1914. 

IThe report speaks for itself and no review thereof by me is neces- 
ary. I will simply refer to the chapters containing the conclusions 
nd recommendations, and submit them as the official opinion of 
pie bureau. While I was entirely unaware of the results of the in- 
quiries until the completion and signing of the report, I have care- 
fully reviewed the work of the committee, commend their labors, 
and indorse their findings as justified by the evidence. 
Respectfully, 

H. M. Smith, Coirimissioner. 



A 




, i,. (..How pact 9.) 



LETTER FROM BUREAU COMMITTEE TO THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH- 
ERIES TRANSMITTING REPORT ON THE OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



Department of Commerce, 

Bureau of Fisheries, 
Washington, January 6, 1915. 
The Commissioner of Fisheries : 

We are transmitting herewith our report on the effects of otter 
trawling on the fisheries, in accordance with your order of February 
5, 1914, constituting us a committee for the consideration of the sub- 
ject. We have been unable to comply with your injunction in regard 
to the time at which the report was to be rendered for the reason that 
we speedily found that the data acquired by the field investigations 
in 1913 were inadequate as a basis for conclusions which would be 
either just to all interests or commensurate with the importance of 
the subject. In order to reach any useful conclusions whatever it 
has been necessary to consider the available facts presented by the 
history of otter trawling in Great Britain, and we decided that for 
this purpose it was advisable to go to the original official sources of 
information rather than to utilize the conclusions arrived at by the 
various commissions which have investigated the subject, and this 
has consumed much time, particularly as the inquiry had to be con- 
ducted without interference with many other duties. 

In reviewing the causes, conclusions, and results of various investi- 
gations of trawling in Great Britain, it must be borne in mind that 
the conditions of the sea fisheries there have always been and still are 
very different from those in this country. There trawling has under- 
gone a progressive evolution, here it has just begun in a small way 
at the modern end of that evolution, both in the development of the 
engines of that method of fishing and the fishes sought. 

Therefore the early considerations of the subject of trawling have 
only a general, if any, application to the question in this country, as 
the conditions, until recent date at least, are incomparable and a com- 
parison, to be of much value, must be of synchronous and analogous 
conditions What was concluded by the Eoyal Commission of 1863, 
or any other commission or select committee, or the fact that 40 
years ago or at any time prior to the advent of steam trawling, and 
particularly the otter trawl, a great scientist or other authority made 

11 



12 OTTER-TEAWL FISHERY. 

this or that statement or came to this or that conclusion, affec ,g 
the present question to the extent only that the statement or conclu- 
sion holds good at the present day and that it applies on this sid e 
of the Atlantic. 

Although the present conditions in the fisheries of Great Britaijn 
have been reached through changes and progress of many years, anii 
those of this country are of recent and comparatively sudden develop- 
ment, the " bones of contention " have apparently been handed along 
little changed through the various periods in Great Britain; and 
finally, still little changed, have crossed the Atlantic to America^. 
When analyzed, the allegations against trawl fishing seem to have had 
their origin in that one economic factor that has been an ever-present 
cause of complaint against each and every innovation in fishery meth- 
ods and appliances in whatever country — competition. 

Therefore, most of the investigations and inquiries, while directly 
ascribable to localized self-interest, have been brought about by 
allegations mainly of general economic significance. The economic 
conditions, at least, changed from period to period, and each in- 
vestigation had a somewhat different problem, and its conclusions 
and recommendations were in accordance with the evidence pre- 
sented by the conditions of the time. Our investigations have the 
same characteristic, and it is not improbable that if we should be 
called on to conduct a similar inquiry in the future, we might find 
the conditions so changed as to require conclusions different from 
those we have now reached. 

This committee has based its findings of fact and its conclusions, 
so far as the conditions on the banks visited by American fisher- 
men are concerned, wholly on the mass of material that has been 
accumulated in the Bureau of Fisheries; and the opinions of per- 
sons other than the members of the committee have been rigorously 
excluded from consideration. 

We are pleased to be able to report complete accord in our de- 
ductions and unanimity in our recommendations. 

A. B. Alexander. 
H. F. Moore. 
W. C. Kendall. 



REPORT ON THE OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY, 



By A. B. Alexander, H. F. Moore, and W. C. Kendall. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Until 1905, American vessels fishing for demersal or bottom fish 
on the banks adjacent to the coast of the United States or on the 
more distant banks off the coast of Newfoundland and Canada con- 
fined themselves to the use of hand lines and trawl lines, the nature 
and methods of the use of which will be described later in this re- 
port. This fishery was, and is, conducted solely by sailing vessels. 
In the year mentioned, the steamer Spray was built at Quincy, 
Mass., for Boston owners, the Bay State Fishing Co. She was 
constructed on the general plans of British fishing steamers and 
was equipped for using the otter trawl, an entirely new method 
of fishing on the coast of the United States, also described further 
on in this report. In 1910, two more steam trawlers were built for 
the same owners, and in each of the years 1911 and 1913 three 
similar vessels were added to the fleet. In addition, a converted 
yacht owned in New York began fishing in 1912, and a small vessel 
owned in Gloucester sometimes uses an otter trawl. In the winter 
of 1914-15 a menhaden steamer entered the fishery. These, with 
the Coquet, a Scottish vessel which made several trips into New 
York, are the only vessels which have used otter trawls out of 
American ports or which have carried fares taken with otter trawls 
into such ports. The fishery has always been conducted predomi- 
nantly out of Boston, and at present is practically confined to that 
place. 

Although the merits and demerits of beam trawling and otter 
trawling, which are essentially similar, had long been the subject of 
much controversy and numerous investigations in Europe, there 
never had been occasion for either in the United States until the 
rapid augmentation of the Boston steam-trawling fleet after 1910 
aroused the line fishermen to apprehension concerning the conserva- 
tion of the fishing banks and a realization that they were face to face 
with a possible revolution in the methods of fishing. 

As an outcome of this alarm, and in response to the appeal of 
the line fishermen and related fishery interests, the investigation 
on which this report is based was made. 

13 



14 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

THE AMERICAN BANK FISHERIES. 
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 

In comparatively recent years the fishing fleet of the banks has 
undergone a great change in both model and rig. The introduction 
of a new class of vessels, having greater speed and superior sea- 
going qualities than were possessed by the old type, has made it pos- 
sible to prosecute the fisheries on a larger scale at all seasons, espe- 
cially during the winter months. In consequence of the increased 
size of the modern type of vessels, much more fishing gear is now 
operated per vessel than was customary 30 or 40 years ago. At 
that time fewer vessels, in proportion to the size of the fleet, were 
engaged in the market fishery — that is, landing their catch in a fresh 
condition — and more attention was paid to what is termed salt fish- 
ing — that is, the dressing and curing of fish on the banks where 
caught. 

As the demand for fresh fish increased, more vessels became en- 
gaged in supplying the market, with the result that in a few years a 
large fleet was permanently employed in fishing for cod, haddock, 
and other species throughout the entire year. These vessels fish 
chiefly on Georges, Browns, and Western Banks, and in the South 
Channel, although at times many of the inshore grounds are visited. 
Quick trips are usually made, but there are times when a continu- 
ance of gales interrupts fishing for a week or more. Fish that are 
over two weeks old, as a rule, do not command the price that is real- 
ized for those more recently caught; in consequence there is an in- 
centive for the fishermen to land their catch in as fresh condition 
as possible. 

In the early years of the haddock fishery only a small portion of 
the haddock grounds were resorted to, but as more vessels were 
added to the fleet and competition arose the accessible grounds were 
more thoroughly exploited and larger catches resulted. 

On Grand Bank, Western Bank, Quereau Bank, and other 
grounds where halibut were at one time very plentiful, there has, 
in recent years, been a decided falling off in the catch, and in some 
places where they were formerly found in abundance, it is no longer 
considered profitable to fish for them. This condition is thought to 
have been brought about by overfishing. Grounds that have been 
depleted in this manner require "rest"; and it has been found 
that localities which have been abandoned for a considerable length 
of time furnish a fairly good supply of halibut when again visited. 
Taken as a whole, however, the halibut grounds of the western 
Atlantic are less productive than they were 15 years ago (1899), 
when the catch of fresh and salted halibut amounted to 9,025,182 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 15 

pounds, compared with 3,379,580 pounds in 1914. In 1910 the catch 
was 4,023,999 pounds: in 1911, 3,501,745 pounds; in 1912, 3,541,539 
pounds; in 1914, 3,379,580 pounds; the average annual yield in 
the past five years being 3,947,003 pounds. 

The falling off in the amount of halibut landed in some years 
since 1899 may in a measure be accounted for by the fewer vessels 
engaged in the fishery, as it has- been found unprofitable to send a 
large fleet of halibut catchers each season to banks where the re- 
sults were extremely doubtful, especially in view of the fact that 
larger and more certain returns might be realized from the cod, had- 
dock, or mackerel fisheries. Aside from changes mentioned in the 
halibut and haddock fisheries, the general condition of the various 
banks enumerated, with the exception of Georges and South Chan- 
nel, remains about the same as it was 30 years ago. 

In order to make a clear presentation of the underlying differences 
between the old line fisheries and the new trawlnet fisheries a full 
description of the respective apparatus and methods is desirable. 

HAND-LINE AND TRAWL-LINE VESSELS. 

Line trawls have been extensively used by the fishermen of New 
England for many years. This method of capture has largely sup- 
planted hand lines, although in recent years, at certain periods, a 
considerable fleet of hand-liners has fished on Quereau Bank and 
Western Bank with marked success, fishing being carried on- from 
the deck of some vessels and from the dories of others. The first 
class are known as deck hand-liners and the second as dory hand- 
liners. Each method is still used in the cod fishery, but trawl-line 
fishermen greatly outnumber those using hand-lines. 

In the inshore fisheries, where formerly hand-lines were wholly 
used, trawl lines are now the principal means of capture, except on 
the local fishing grounds off Cape Ann, where gill nets have been 
extensively employed in the last three years for the capture of 
pollock, cod, and haddock. 

Dory hand-line vessels. — A dory hand-line vessel usually carries 
from twelve to fourteen 13-foot dories. When not in use they are 
nested on the main deck, an equal number on each side. In this kind 
of fishing one man goes in a dory and operates two and three lines, 
the number being regulated by the depth of water, strength of tide, 
and other conditions. 

Size of lines and leads. — The lines used by dory fishermen on 
Quereau and other banks, where this method of fishing is largely 
carried on at times, are tarred cotton, weighing from 8 to 10 pounds 
per dozen. The leads weigh from 2^ to 3^ pounds each. The depth 
of water in which fishing is carried on varies from 15 to 50 fathoms, 

86066°— 15 2 



16 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

while with trawl lines the depth is usually greater, 40 to 60 fathoir. 
being a fair average. 

Bait. — Salt clams, fresh squid, caplin, fresh herring, and other 
species are used for bait. 

Skill of -fishermen. — On good fishing ground a skillful fisherman 
will load his dory in a comparatively short time, and it is not un- 
common, when fish are plentiful, for a boat to be loaded three or four 
times in a day's fishing. At such times, when there is a considerable 
fleet of vessels on the bank, the weather being pleasant, it is not 
unusual for 200 or 300 dories to be fishing side by side. In other 
localities where fish are less abundant the dories are likely to be 
more scattered. While the dories are out the skipper and cook gen- 
erally fish from the deck of the vessel. 

Time of fishing. — Generally the men go out in the dories twice 
each day; the first time being before sunrise and again just before 
noon. In the middle of the afternoon they return to the vessel and 
eat their supper, after which they begin to dress the catch. 

The number of fish caught by each man is noted by the captain, 
and upon this record depends each man's share of the proceeds, it 
having been found that better results follow this system than on 
vessels where all fish are thrown together, all men sharing alike. 

Fishing is continued each day, weather permitting, until a fare 
has been secured or a scarcity of fish compels the vessel to seek a new 
berth. Sometimes the voyage is interrupted by the necessity of leav- 
ing the bank for a fresh supply of bait. 

Deck hand-line vessels. — Vessels of this class often fish on the same 
ground with dory hand-liners. The crew fish from the deck. The 
fishing gear is the same as that used in dories, excepting that the 
leads are heavier. 

Trawl-line vessels. — Line trawlers engaged in the market fishery 
are of two classes, known as single and double dory fishermen, so 
called because of one man being required in the single and two men 
in the double dories. The dories are 12 and 14 feet long, respectively. 

Number of dories and amount of gear. — Vessels that land fresh 
fish from offshore grounds, such as Georges, Browns, Cape Shore, 
and other banks, carry from 12 to 16 dories. Vessels fishing on local 
grounds are generally smaller in size and in consequence carry fewer 
dories. 

Ordinarily each dory is furnished with from 4 to 6 tubs of trawl, 
each tub representing about 500 hooks, seldom exceeding 525 hooks. 
A flour barrel, sawed off above the lower quarter hoops, is used for 
a tub. The trawls are coiled in tubs as they are baited, the baited 
hooks being placed at the side in rows in such manner that they can be 
thrown out quickly without fouling. A vessel having 12 dories, each 
dory operating four tubs of trawl, would use 24,000 hooks to a set, and 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 17 

one having 16 dories 32,000 hooks. The number of tubs to be set is 
regulated by the abundance of fish, strength of the tide, and weather 
conditions. On first arriving on the bank it is frequently necessary 
to test the ground as to the abundance or scarcity of fish. At this 
time only a small portion of the gear is set, as it is not thought 
advisable to consume the bait on uncertain ground. 

Cod and haddock trawl lines. — Trawl lines consist of two parts, 
the ground line and the gangings, together with buoys, buoy lines, 
and anchors. The ground line is a small, tarred cotton line weigh- 
ing about 14 pounds per one dozen lines of 25 fathoms each. The 
size of lines varies somewhat. The gangings, to which the hooks are 
attached, are of tarred cotton line weighing about 5 pounds to 300 
fathoms, are 2 feet long, and are fastened to the ground line at 
intervals of 5 feet, although some vessels employ gear with the 
hangings placed 38 inches apart, and others 5 feet 9 inches apart. 
There is no fixed rule governing the number of hooks on a trawl. 
Vessels engaged in the offshore fisheries generally use gear with the 
hooks closer together than those employed in fishing on local banks. 
Captains and crews of vessels entertain different ideas regarding the 
manner in which trawls should be rigged, and this in a measure ac- 
counts for the different styles of gear found on vessels engaged in 
the same fishery. 

Trawls set for both cod and haddock are now rigged practically 
in the same manner. In past years, however, the hooks and gang- 
ings on cod trawls were somewhat larger than on haddock trawls. 
Smaller gear has gradually come into use, and the haddock trawl 
has taken the place of the cod trawl on Georges, South Channel, and 
shore grounds. 

Dories and their outfit. — In making a passage to and from the 
banks and during stormy weather the dories are nested on the deck 
of the vessel and securely lashed. On arriving on that part of the 
bank where a set is to be made, the lashings are cast off and prepara- 
tions made for fishing. Into the top dories of the nest, previous to 
hoisting out, the necessary fishing gear is placed, consisting of tubs 
of trawl, buoys, buoy lines, anchors, fish gaff, bait knife, and dory 
roller. It may be stated that the trawls are baited before being 
placed in the dories. The other dories are equipped in the same 
manner by their respective crews, and as soon as ready are hoisted 
over the side and paid: astern, ready to set in the position selected by 
the captain. 

Setting a trawl line. — In setting a trawl two men usually go in a 
dory, one to throw the trawl and the other to row the boat. Having 
arrived at the place where the set is to be made, they fasten a buoy 
to one end of the buoy line and throw it over the side. The buoy 
line is allowed to run out until the end is reached, when it, together 



18 OTTER-TKAWL FISHERY. 

with the upper end of the trawl line, is bent to the ring of the anchor. 
The anchor is lowered over the side, and the trawl is then thrown 
from the tub until the lower end is reached ; it is then fastened to the 
upper end of the second tub of trawl, and so on until all of the tubs — 
four, six, or more — have been set. The last end of the trawl, to- 
gether with the second buoy line, is bent to an anchor and thrown 
over the side, care being taken to prevent the buoy line from fouling 
with the hooks of the trawl as it runs out. To the free end of the 
buoy line is attached the second buoy. The distance between the 
buoys depends on the number of tubs set; sometimes it is a mile or 
more. 

Hauling a trawl line. — At an early hour in the morning the men 
turn out to their breakfast, following which the dories are hoisted 
over the side and preparations are made for hauling. In this case 
the trawls have been left out overnight. There are many times, how- 
ever, when two sets are made each day and no night fishing is done. 

The men row in various directions according to the bearings of 
their outer buoys. Having reached the buoy, the man in the bow of 
a dory begins to haul the buoy line, hand-over-hand, over the roller 
inserted on the gunwale in the forward part of the dory. This is 
kept up until all the slack is taken in and a strain is brought to bear 
by the anchor and trawl, when the services of both men are required. 
The man in the stern unfastens the buoy and coils the buoy line. 
The anchor having been unbent and stowed away, the man in the bow 
commences to haul the trawl, which is coiled away in tubs by the man 
stationed aft, who at the same time takes the fish from the hooks. 
In this manner the entire " string " of gear is hauled, each section 
coiled in a tub, the hooks placed in such a position as to make it com- 
paratively easy to rebait them. Before arriving alongside of the 
vessel everything connected with the trawl is stowed and fastened in 
such a manner that it can be removed from the dory to the deck 
without becoming tangled. 

Underrunning a trawl. — This method permits the removal of 
the fish from the hooks and rebaiting them in a single operation, 
thus saving a considerable amount of labor. " Underrunning " is 
sometimes performed on ground where fish are plentiful and the 
weather is suitable for such operation. A trawl intended to be 
" underrun " is set in the usual manner with slight variation. A 
becket is made in the buoy line about 10 or 12 fathoms below the buoy. 
Jn the becket is bent a small line which reaches to the bottom, and 
to the bottom end of this line is fastened a stone weighing about 
6 pounds. The ground line of the trawl, instead of being fastened 
to the ring of the anchor, is attached to the small line close to the 
stone. When thus set there is sufficient distance between the an- 
chor on the buoy line and the stone on the small line to permit 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 19 

of the trawl being lifted without disturbing the anchor. In haul- 
ing, the buoy line is pulled up until the small line running to the 
anchor is reached, the stone is hauled up and the end of the trawl 
is passed over the dory. One man unhooks the fish and the other 
baits the hooks. In this way the dory passes under the entire 
length of the trawl, the fish being taken from it and the hooks 
baited in a single operation. The object of operating trawls in 
the manner described is for the purpose of keeping them in one 
position during the time fish are plentiful. 

OTTER-TRAWL VESSELS. 

There are at the present time nine steam vessels regularly en- 
gaged in the otter-trawl fishery from American ports. These ves- 
sels were designed and constructed especially for this industry. 
There are also two other steam vessels employed in otter trawling, 
one a converted yacht, the other a menhaden vessel. 

The typical steam otter trawler is a two-masted steel steamer, 
about 115 feet in length between perpendiculars, with a beam of 
22 feet and a depth of 11 to 12 feet, and equipped with an engine 
of 450 indicated horsepower. The hull is strongly constructed, 
and shows sturdy, seaworthy lines, with considerable shear. Ves- 
sels of this class range in size from 218 to 296 gross tons, and are 
quite similar in the character and arrangement of their gear. 

The forecastle deck is usually built up and covered in with a 
turtleback, forming a storeroom for fishing gear, and providing 
a breakwater which prevents the shipping of water over the bow. 
From here the deck is clear aft to the wheelhouse, which is situated 
about midships, over the fire room. From this point a low house 
runs aft in the center of the vessel, leaving a clear passage on both 
sides, and a considerable space of clear deck at the stern. A low 
bulwark extends entirely around the vessel. 

Just forward of the wheelhouse stands the trawling winch, con- 
sisting of two drums, steam driven, on which are wound the two 
wire cables which operate the net. In front of the winch is a hatch 
leading to the fish hold. 

The forward deck is divided by low, removable partitions, or 
" checkers," forming a series of pens of various sizes for the reten- 
tion of fish during the operations of sorting and cleaning. 

On each side of the vessel, fore and aft, stand the "gallows;" 
steel structures which support the sheaves through which the wire 
cables go outboard. These are usually in the form of an inverted U, 
inclined slightly outward. The forward pair stand slightly in ad- 
vance of the foremast, and the after pair about abreast of the 
mainmast. 






AFTER GALLOWS 


MIDSHIP FAIRLEAD 




TC'.v: 


atIlcick mSm 


STEAM Wlts(CH| 






-\k la Dal 
^K |qoo| 


CES 




T^TRIFtr - 
e B0LLAJR0S 


F D 














DECK PLAN 







DIAGRAM OF STEAM TRAWLER 

SHOWING TISHING GEAR 



20 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

The otter trawl, as used by steamers fishing out of Boston, is essen- 
tially a large, flattened, conical bag, which is towed along the bot- 
tom of the sea. The mouth of this bag is kept open laterally by two 
large boards, or doors, one on each side, so rigged that they operate 
like kites. These boards are secured to the towing warps by chain 
bridles, so adjusted that as the trawl is towed along the resistance 
of the water causes the boards to pull away from each other, thus 
spreading the bag. 

This conical bag is about 150 feet long. That portion of the mouth 
of the bag which lies on the sea bottom is secured to a foot line 140 
feet long, reaching from board to board. The upper edge of the 
mouth is secured to a shorter headline, 110 feet long, also reaching 
from board to board. In operation this headline, being shorter, 
causes the top of the mouth of the bag to extend considerably in 
advance of the lower portion. 

The otter boards are usually about 10 feet long, 4 feet high, and 
2% inches thick and are heavily shod and reinforced with iron. At 
ordinary towing speed their kite-like action extends the mouth of 
the net laterally to a width of from 70 to 90 feet. The flow of water 
into the net tends to keep it open vertically, but this force is 
assisted by a painted canvas float attached close to the center of the 
headline. 

The foot line is a wire cable served with marline and wound with 
rope, giving it a diameter of about 4 inches. This wrapping tends to 
prevent the line from cutting into the bottom, and thus reduces the 
wear and tear on the net. Chafing gear, consisting of sections of 
old nets, is used for further protection. 

The nets themselves, which are all imported, are constructed of 
strong manila twine, with a mesh of about 3 inches square in the 
forward third of the bag. The central third has a mesh about 1^ 
inches square. In the last third of the net, or cod end, the twine is 
doubled. This makes the knots larger and reduces the size of the 
mesh to about 1+. inches square. The end of the cod end is open and 
is secured, while fishing, with a draw string. 

In setting the trawl, the wire cables are run through fair leads to 
and through the gallow sheaves, one forward and one aft on the side 
from which it is proposed to set. The cables are then shackled to 
the chain bridles of the otter boards, which are in turn secured to 
either wing of the trawl. The vessel is then brought beam to the 
wind, the net being on the windward side. The cod end is then 
tied up and put overboard, the balance of the net being paid out 
as the vessel drifts to leeward away from it. The float (usually a 
balloon-shaped danvas bladder) is secured to the center of the top 
of the bag. The net is now all gone into the water, with the excep- 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 21 

tion of the ends of the wings, which are attached to the otter boards 
hanging at the gallows. 

Both towing warps are now slowly paid out for a short distance, 
and the vessel moves slowly ahead, turning toward the side from 
which the net is being set. This is continued until the otter boards 
have spread the net properly, and the whole apparatus has assumed 
the position for fishing. The cables are then paid out until the net 
has reached the bottom, when they are stopped and shackled together 
near the stern of the vessel. 

The trawl is now towed slowly along the bottom at a rate of 
from 2 to 3 miles per hour, usually for about 1| hours. Then 
the cables are released from the shackle at the stern, the winches 
are started, and as the net comes up the vessel is again brought 
broadside to the wind, with the net to the windward, and stopped. 
The otter boards are brought right up to the gallows blocks, and 
the net is further brought in by quarter lines run to the gypsy heads 
of the trawling winches, the crew taking in the slack of the net by 
hand. When the ends of the quarter lines are in, the foot rope of 
the net lies close alongside the vessel. 

The remainder of the net is taken in over the side by hand until 
the cod end, which contains the catch, is reached. The throat of 
the cod end is now folded over and bunched together; a sling is 
passed around it, to which is attached a fall from the derrick boom 
on the foremast. A winch now hoists the cod end, with its con- 
tents, and swings it inboard, where it is lowered over one of the 
checkers. The draw string is now released, and the catch falls out 
onto the deck. 

If fishing is to be continued in the same locality, the trawl is 
immediately again set as before, and the crew start at once to sort, 
clean, and stow the marketable fish and dispose of the trash. This 
work is accomplished in the following manner : 

Two or more men, armed with pitchforks, attack the pile of fish 
in the checker, heaving overboard the skates, dogfish, monkfish, 
and other species considered worthless, and tossing the haddock, cod, 
and other marketable fishes into separate checkers. Here these fish 
(excepting the flat fish), are immediately cut and gutted, a stream 
of salt water from a hose washing away the blood and gurry. The 
livers of the cod, haddock, etc., are usually saved. The gutted fish 
are now forked into a bin where- they are further washed by a 
stream of salt water. When this bin is full it is opened by means 
of a hinged bottom, and the fish fall into the hold, where a man is 
stationed who packs them away in pens with chopped ice. The flat 
fish are packed in ice without cutting or cleaning. The fish being 



22 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

stowed, the hose is turned onto the deck and the checkers cleaned in 
readiness for the next haul. % 

Fishing continues day and night The crew is divided into two 
watches, working six hours each. The average number of hauls per 
24 hours, under ordinary circumstances, is about 10 to 12, although 
this will vary according to the nature of the ground, the amount of 
net mending necessary, and the weather. Including the passage to 
and from the fishing grounds, from four days to a week is usually 
required to get a full fare of fish. 

FISHING BANKS OF WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC. 

The principal fishing banks of the western North Atlantic and 
their approximate areas, are as follows: 

Square miles. 

Grand Bank 36, 000 

Green Bank 1, 450 

St. Pierre Bank 4, 800 

Quereau Bank 3, 000 

Misaine Bank 1, S20 

The Gully 1, 200 

Western Bank 6, 320 

Le Have Bank 790 

Le Have Ridges 1,575 

Roseway Bank 175 

Browns Bank 1, 375 

Seal Island Ground 1,250 

Georges Bank — 8, 498 

South Channel (about) 1,300 

Total 69,553 

Grand Bank. — The Grand Bank lies southeast of Newfoundland, 
and in area is about equal to all of the other offshore banks com- 
bined. It extends from latitude 42° 57' to 47° 04' N., and from lon- 
gitude 48° 06' to 54° 11' W. 

Its outline is that of an irregular triangle, with sides, respectively. 
264, 225, and 264 miles long. In both area and extent of its fisheries 
the Grand Bank is the most important fishing ground in the world. 
Its principal fishery is that for cod, which is carried on by ves- 
sels from France, the United States, the Canadian Provinces, and 
Newfoundland. The fishing season lasts from April to October. 
Halibut also are taken in considerable numbers. 

Green Bank. — Green Bank, situated between Grand Bank and 
St. Pierre Banks, is of comparatively little importance, although 
one of the best halibut grounds lies in the deep water near its south- 

" No name is given on the charts, but it is known to fishermen as the Seal Island 
Ground ; it lies between Browns Bank and Seal Island. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 23 

ern part. Its length, north and south, is 62 miles, and its width 
is about 36 miles. Little is known of the abundance of cod on this 
bank, but vessels from Gloucester, Mass., fish here for halibut. 

St. Pierre Bank. — St. Pierre Bank is situated off the center of 
the southern coast of Newfoundland, and is distant about 10 miles 
from the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. Its length is about 
125 miles, its width between 35 and 65 miles. Cod and halibut 
are the only food fishes found in considerable numbers, although 
a few cusk and haddock are sometimes taken. The season begins 
about the first of April and extends until November. Few except 
French cod vessels and fresh halibut fishermen resort at present 
to this bank, as other places offer better inducements. 

Quereau Bank. — Quereau Bank is one of the most important of 
the northern banks. It is somewhat rectangular in shape, about 
120 by 47 miles in extent, and lies between 44° 04' and 45° 01' 
north latitude, and 57° 10' and 60° 05' west longitude. Cod and 
halibut are the principal fish, but hake, haddock, and cusk also 
abound. The best season is from May to November, but halibut 
are found throughout the year off the edges of the bank. 

Misaine Bank. — Misaine Bank lies north of the western two- 
thirds of Quereau Bank, from which it is separated by a channel 
about 20 miles wide. Its greatest length and width are 80 and 
40 miles, respectively. 

The Gully. — The Gully is the deep passage lying between Quereau 
Bank and Sable Island. It is an important place for halibut, the 
grounds proper being limited to that portion of The Gully between 
the meridians of 50° and 60° west longitude. Most of the vessels 
resorting to The Gully are from Gloucester, Mass. 

Sable Island Bank or Western Bank. — This is one of the most 
important fishing grounds of the western Atlantic. It lies south 
of Cape Breton Island and the eastern part of Nova Scotia, be- 
tween 42° 55' and 44° 46' north latitude and 59° 04' and 82° 35' 
west longitude, and is about 156 miles long and 76 miles wide. 
At its eastern end is Sable Island. Cod and halibut are the prin- 
cipal food fish taken, the former being most abundant from March 
to June. Vessels from all along the New England coast and the 
British Provinces resort to this bank for cod, but the halibut fishery 
is almost exclusively carried on by the Gloucester fleet. 

Le Have Bank. — This bank lies between 42° 34' to 43° 25' north 
latitude, a distance of 52 miles, and 63° 50' to 65° 07' west longitude, 
a distance of about 54 miles. Cod and haddock are the principal 
species taken. These are found at all seasons of the year, but are 
most abundant during the early winter months. 



24 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

Le Have Ridges. — Le Have Ridges is an eastern continuation of 
Le Have Bank, with a length of about 45 miles. Halibut, cod, and 
hake are the principal species taken. 

Roseway Bank. — Roseway Bank lies north of the western part of 
Le Have Bank and southeast of Shelburne Light, Nova Scotia, and 
is of small extent, about 21 by 15 miles. Cod, haddock, and cusk are 
the principal fish taken, but hake, pollock, and halibut also occur. 
It is mainly resorted to by small vessels from Nova Scotia, although 
a few from New England occasionally fish there. 

Browns Bank. — Browns Bank lies northeast of Georges Bank, 
from which it is separated by a gulley 15 miles wide. It is about 
63 miles long by 43 miles wide. Cod, halibut, and haddock are the 
principal fish, but pollock and hake are also found. Cod and had- 
dock are quite plentiful in winter. 

Seal Island Ground. — Seal Island Ground is a direct continuation 
of the shore soundings, extending south nearly to Browns Bank, 
and northwest to about 35 miles beyond Seal Island. Cod, haddock, 
and pollock are the principal fishes, but halibut, cusk, and hake are 
also taken, and occasionally herring and mackerel. The fleet resort- 
ing there is composed chiefly of Nova Scotia vessels. 

Georges Bank. — Georges Bank is the largest and most important 
ground near the coast of the United States and is second only to 
Grand Bank in these respects. It lies to the eastward of Cape Cod 
and Nantucket Shoals, between 40° 30' to 42° 08' north latitude and 
66° to 69° west longitude. Its greatest dimensions are about 150 by 
98 miles. On its western part are a number of dangerous shoals. 
During February, March, and April large schools of cod and had- 
dock appear on this bank, usually on the " winter fishing grounds," 
whose area is about 11 square miles. 

South Channel. — South Channel is practically an extension of 
Georges Bank, or that part of it lying west of 69° west longitude 
and between 40° 45' and 41° 45' north latitude and includes the 
ground covered by Nantucket Shoals and as far north as Chatham 
Lights. It is a very prolific ground for haddock and is resorted to 
by the Boston and Gloucester fleets. Its closeness to the markets 
makes it possible to land fresh fish in excellent condition. 

COMPARISON OF THE CATCH BY OTTER-TRAWL AND TRAWL-LINE VESSELS. 

The character of the catch, as measured by the number, and espe- 
cially by the relative proportions of the species taken, varies with 
the time of year as well as with the apparatus employed, as will be 
seen from the following table, based on the records of observers 
stationed on both otter trawlers and line trawlers during the year 
1913. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



25 



Percentage of Marketable and Unmarketable Species of Fishes Taken 
by Otter Trawls and Trawl Lines, Respectively, in 1913, on Certain 

Vessels. 





Otter trawls. 


Trawl 
lines, 
June to 
Decem- 
ber. 


Species. 


January 
to May. 


June to 
Decem- 
ber. 


Marketable species, saved: 

Cod 


Per cent. 

4.4 

70.3 

.6 

.2 


Per cent. 
3.6 
36.6 
2.0 
.3 
(•) 
(») 
.1 
1.3 
.7 
3.8 
(a) 


Per cent. 
8.8 




35.6 




11.0 


Pollock 


.8 


Cusk 


2.6 


Wolf fish 


.i 

(a) 
4.0 


.1 




Sole 


.1 










1.6 




<«> 










79.6 


48.4 


60.6 






Immature marketable species, wasted: 

Cod 


.2 

9.1 

.9 

(•) 

.1 

.2 


2.4 
22.3 
15.2 

(«) 

(«) 


.1 




Hake 


7.5 


Pollock 




Halibut 




Sole 










Total 


10.5 


39.9 


7.6 






Nonmarketable species, wasted: 


.5 
4.0 

.6 
2.4 
2.3 


3.3 

2.7 
1.1 
2.8 
1.8 


5.1 




1.3 




.5 




21.2 


Skate 


3.5 






Total 


9.8 


11.7 


31.6 








20.3 


51.6 


39 2 







a Less than 0.1 per cent. 

This is a record of the catch, not of the fares landed, and it 
includes the marketable, the unmarketably small of the marketable 
species, and the species which have no present market value. The 
question of the sizes of these fish will be considered later. All cod, 
haddock, hake, pollock, cusk, halibut, and sole of suitable size are 
saved, while wolf fish, butterfish, and rosefish are sometimes saved 
and sometimes thrown away. The "nonmarketable species" are all 
edible fish, but are not utilized in American markets. 

It will be observed that there is but little change in the pro- 
portions of marketable and nonmarketable species taken by the 
otter trawls in the first and second halves of the year, respectively, 
but that during the period from June 1 to December 31 the trawl 
lines catch a much larger proportion of nonmarketable species than 
do the otter trawls, the difference being due to the larger number 
of dog-fishes taken on the lines, 21.2 per cent of the whole catch 
as compared with 2.8 per cent taken in the nets. During this period 
the otter trawls observed took 88.2 per cent of marketable species 
and the trawl lines 68.3 per cent, and of the nonmarketable species 



26 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



the nets took 11.7 per cent and the lines 31.7 per cent. Eliminating 
the dogfish, the proportion of total nonmarketable species taken 
by the two methods did not differ materially. 

The waste of marketable species too small for sale was compara- 
tively small in the otter-trawl fishery from January to May in- 
clusive, not being materially higher than the catch of immature 
fish on lines in the latter half of the year, but from June to Decem- 
ber, inclusive, the otter trawls were relatively almost five times as 
destructive of small fish as the lines. 

On the vessels under observation the lines took no young cod 
and practically no young haddock, while 2.4 per cent of the whole 
catch of the otter trawlers consisted of young cod and 22.3 per cent 
of young haddock regarded as too small to sell. Stated in another 
form, 40 per cent of the cod and 38 per cent of the haddock taken 
by the otter trawlers from June to December were fish too small 
to market. From January to May but 3 per cent of the cod and 
11 per cent of the haddock were unmarketable on account of their 
size. 

The foregoing data are based on the entire catch of all vessels 
observed; since they cover trips to a number of banks and the 
returns for the two methods of fishing are not strictly comparable, 
for the steam trawlers and liners were in many cases not fishing 
on the same grounds, the following table has been prepared : 

Percentage of Marketable and Unmarketable Species of Fishes Taken by 
Certain Otter Trawlers on Georges Bank and South Channel, Respec- 
tively, and by Line Trawlers in South Channel, from June to November, 
Inclusive, 1913. 





Otter trawls, June- 
November. 


Trawl 
lines, 
June- 


Species. 


Georges 
Bank. 


South 
Channel. 


Novem- 
ber, 
South 
Channel. 


Marketable species, saved: 

Cod 


Per cent. 

3.7 

45.5 

3.6 

.2 

(a) 
(a) 

(») 

.8 
1.0 

1.8 
(a) 


Per cent. 

3.7 

30.9 

.8 

.3 

(a) 

( a ) 
.1 

1.6 

.5 

5.9 

(a) 


Per cent. 
7.8 




41.1 




9.6 


Pollock 


1.2 


Cusk 


2.3 


Wolffish 


(°) 




.1 


Sole 


(o) 




1.7 
















56.6 


43.8 


63.8 






Immature marketable species, wasted: 

Cod 


2.0 
21.9 
8.0 

(a) 

(») 


2.7 
22.4 
19.2 

(a) 

( a ) 


(«) 




(°) 




8.3 


Pollock 




















31.9 1 44.3 


8.3 








, 



Less than 0.1 per cent. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



27 



Percentage of Marketable and Unmarketable Species of Fishes Taken by 
Certain Otter Trawlers, etc. — Continued. 





Otter trawls, June- 
November. 


Trawl 
lines, 
June- 


Species. 


Georges 
Bank. 


South 
Channel. 


Novem- 
ber, 
South 
Channel. 


Nonmarketable species, wasted: 


Per cent. 
2.1 
2.0 
1.0 
4.4 
2.0 


Per cent. 
4.3 
3.4 
1.0 
1.7 
1.6 


Per cent. 
6.1 




.5 




.3 




18.0 


Skate 


3.0 






Total 


11.5 12.0 


27.9 








53. 4 56. 3 


36.2 











a Less than 0. 1 per cent. 

An analysis of this table shows considerable difference between the 
catches made by otter trawls on Georges Bank and South Channel 
during the same part of the year. The former ground produced 
a large proportion of merchantable species of fishes and a corre- 
spondingly small proportion of immature individuals. Again, con- 
sidering the cod and haddock, it is found that the former ground 
relatively to the entire catch produced 3.7 per cent of marketable 
size and 2 per cent of immature fish and the latter 45.5 per cent and 
21.9 per cent respectively of the two sizes. In other words, 35 per 
cent of all cod and 33 per cent of all haddock were too small to 
market. 

In the South Channel fishery, 3.7 per cent of the whole catch con- 
sisted of marketable cod and 30.9 per cent of marketable haddock, 
while the young of these species constituted 2.7 per cent and 22.4 per 
cent, respectively. In the line fishery in South Channel, 7.8 per cent 
of the whole catch consisted of marketable cod and 41.1 per cent of 
marketable haddock, and there were practically no young of these 
species. While all of the cod and haddock taken on lines were 
marketable, but 67 per cent of the cod and 58 per cent of the had- 
dock taken in the otter trawls were saved, the remaining 33 per cent 
and 42 per cent respectively being too small to sell. Summarizing, 
while the otter trawls were considerably less destructive to the young 
of marketable fishes on Georges Bank than in South Channel, they 
were in both cases incomparably more destructive than the lines 
fished in South Channel or on all of the other grounds collectively. 

The young fish not large enough to market are thrown overboard 
from the vessels in the case of the otter trawlers and from the dories 
in the line fishery. The testimony of the observers on the vessels is 
that a very large percentage or practically all of the immature fishes 
of marketable species are dead when thrown over from the steamers, 



28 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



and the large percentages of young cod, haddock, and hake shown in 
the preceding tables are to be regarded as an absolute waste. The 
young fishes taken on the lines have a much better chance to live, as 
they have not been subjected to the pressure to which the netted fish 
are exposed and are immediately returned to the water, although 
some of them are killed or injured by being " slatted " against the 
sides of the dories. 

In respect to the catch of unmarketable species there is not much 
difference if the dogfish be eliminated from consideration. All of 
the waste species enumerated in the table are edible and most of 
them are regarded with considerable favor in Europe. The dogfish 
has long been eaten and the demand for it in Great Britain is steadily 
increasing, but its only economic aspect in the United States is that 
of a nuisance to the fisheries. The monkfish is one of the most highly 
esteemed fishes in Germany, and the skate has wide consumption in 
various parts of the world. Both the flounder and the silver hake 
are good fishes. 

WASTE FROM MARKETING SMALL FISHES. 

The foregoing deals with the catch as a whole and the waste which 
results from the fish discarded as unmarketable. There remains to 
be considered such waste as may result from marketing an undue 
proportion of small fishes which, if permitted to live, would not 
only increase in size and thereby mechanically augment the volume 
of fish in the sea, but would further increase the supply by procrea- 
tion. To develop the extent and character of such waste as may 
occur through the predominance of small fish in the catch the follow- 
ing tables are presented : 

Weight and Percentage, by Culls or Sizes, of Cod, Haddock, and Hake 
Marketed by Otter Trawlers and Trawl Liners Fishing on all Banks 
in 1913. - 





Quantity. 


Percentage. 


Species and sizes. 


Otter 
trawls. 


Trawl 
lines. 


Otter 
trawls. 


Trawl 
lines. 


Cod: 


Pounds. 

409,559 
1,119,975 

138, 272 


Pounds. 
6,927,763 
8,099,221 
1,023,129 


24.56 
67.15 
8.29 


43. 16 




50.46 




6.38 






Total 


1,667,806 


16,050,113 


100.00 


100.00 






Haddock: 


10,366,002 
2,122,990 


30,265,920 
1,159,795 


83.00 
16.99 


6.31 




3.69 








12,488,992 


31,425,715 


99.99 


100.00 






Hake: 


99,890 
109, 595 


3,411,107 
5,513,336 


47.68 
52.32 


38.22 




61.78 






Total 


209,485 


8,924,443 


100.00 


100.00 







OTTEK-TRAWL FISHERY. 



29 



The preceding table includes practically all of the cod, haddock, 
and hake marketed at Boston during the year, and it will be seen that 
not only, as has been previously shown, do the otter trawlers catch a 
larger proportion of the small fish than do the trawl liners, but the 
fish marketed are smaller in the cases of the cod and the haddock, 
although the reverse is true in respect to the hake. The regulations 
of the New England Fish Exchange at Boston prescribe the follow- 
ing weights of the several sizes in " culls " of these three species : 

Cod: 

Large, 10 pounds and up. 

Market, over 2\ pounds to 10 pounds. 

Scrod, 1 pound to 2\ pounds, inclusive. 
Haddock : 

Large, over 1\ pounds. 

Scrod, 1 pound to 1\ pounds, inclusive. 
Hake: 

Large, 6 pounds and over. 

Medium, over 2\ pounds to 6 pounds. 

We have at hand no data showing the average weights of the fishes 
of the several " culls," and the table presented can not be interpreted 
to show the economic loss due to the capture of a predominance of 
small fishes, even though they be marketed. Moreover, the table 
shows the catch from all banks, on many of which the otter trawlers 
fished but little or not at all. The only fishing ground for which 
there are sufficient data for a comparison of simultaneous fishing 
operations by both methods is South Channel, and the observed facts 
in respect to that locality are presented in the following table: 

Percentages by Count of Culls or Sizes of Cod, Haddock, and Hake Mar- 
keted by Otter Trawlers and Trawl Liners, Respectively, Fishing in 
South Channel from June to September, 1913. 



Species and sizes. 


Otter 
trawlers. 


Trawl 
liners. 


Cod: 


6.08 
71.50 
22.42 


22.62 




69.15 




8.23 








Total 


100.00 


100.00 








Haddock: 


71.81 
28.19 


82.16 




17.84 








Total 


100. 00 


100.00 








Hake: 


40.57 
59.43 


76.70 




23.30 








Total 


100.00 


100.00 







This table differs from its predecessor in that the percentages 
are based on the number instead of the weight of the fishes mar- 
keted, and the loss resulting from the capture of an undue pro- 



30 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



".'!! 



portion of small fishes is more clearly brought out. One large 
cod, for instance, weighs at least four times as much as a scrod, yet 
each scrod taken is, barring accidents and enemies, a potential 
large cod. We have, however, no way of determining the age or 
weight "expectancy" of the average scrod, and any consideration 
of the probabilities would be mere unfounded speculation. It is 
clear, at least, that the otter trawl not only destroys more fish 
too small to market, but it is also more wasteful than the line fish- 
eries by reason of the smaller average size of its marketable catch. 

EDIBLE FISHES WASTED AND NEW KINDS MARKETED. 

There is another type of waste which has not yet been considered. 
Failure to utilize a resource which from its nature is not imperish- . 
able is almost as economically indefensible as to needlessly destroy 
part of a product the other parts of which are utilized. Every 
edible or otherwise economically valuable fish left in the sea beyond 
the requirements of the maintenance of the species, or to serve as 
food for other species which are used, is a loss so long as the need 
of man for protein-bearing food remains unsatisfied. A waste of 
a recognized food species by any given method of fishing may be- 
come justifiable if large quantities of previously unutilized species, 
not possible to take by other apparatus, be made available to con- 
sumers. In final analysis the consumers' interest is paramount, 
and the real purpose of a fishery is that the people may have fish, 
both immediately and for all time. 

The species of flounder locally known as " sole " is practically the 
only fish marketed by the otter trawlers which does not feature 
in the market returns of the trawl liners. These fish average about 
3 pounds in weight. During the period from January to May, 
inclusive, 4 per cent, and from June to December, inclusive, 1.3 
per cent by count, of all of the fish caught by otter trawls con- 
sisted of soles, all or practically all of which were marketed, while 
the quantity of this species caught on lines was negligible. During 
1913 the trawlers marketed an average of about 50,000 pounds of sole 
per month, or 600,000 pounds per year. This is about three times 
the total quantity of marketable hake, 36 per cent of the saleable 
cod, and nearly 5 per cent of the haddock marketed from the same 
source. It is therefore a material addition to the food supply. 

The average weight of the young cod, haddock, and hake killed 
and thrown away by the otter trawlers is not definitely known, 
but it is believed to be at least three-fourths of a pound. On this 
assumption, the total quantity of soles marketed by the otter trawl- 
ers is but one-third of the weight of small gadoids destroyed. As 
has been before pointed out, the catch of the young of these fish 
by trawl liners is comparatively negligible. Without considering 
the question of the potentiality for growth of these young fish and 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



31 



their value for the perpetuation of the fisheries, the quantity of 
them destroyed is not compensated for by the catch of sole. 

The wolf fish or catfish is also taken more frequently in otter 
trawls than on the lines, but the entire quantity marketed by the 
trawlers did not exceed 75,000 or 80,000 pounds in 1913. 

Of the edible though unutilized fishes taken by the two methods 
of fishing, the otter trawlers take more flounders and monkfish 
and the liners more silver hake and dogfish, while there is not 
much difference in the relative quantities of skates. Although sev- 
eral species of skates are highly regarded in other countries, it 
does not appear that any determined effort has been made to estab- 
lish a market for such fishes in the United States. The relative 
prices of fishes are to a very large extent controlled by local taste, 
custom, and prejudice. For instance, the silver hake which is thrown 
away by American bank fishermen is the highest priced of the Irish 
demersal fishes (excepting flat fishes), the haddock being next in 
price. The skate sells in that country for but about 10 per cent 
less than the cod, and in England the fishermen receive for dog- 
fish but 50 per cent less than for cod. In Germany the monkfish 
sells for much more than fresh mackerel. There is nothing to 
indicate, therefore, that the otter trawlers added greatly to the 
supply of fish food by the introduction in the markets of fishes 
which are not yielded in considerable quantities by the line fish- 
eries, although their catch is such as to apparently make this to 
some extent possible. 

FLUCTUATIONS IN THE CATCH AND EVIDENCES OF IMPOVERISHMENT OF 

THE FISHERY. 

It is hardly to be expected that a fishery so recently established 
and of such moderate development as otter trawling in the United 
States would have any apparent effect on the abundance of fishes, 
but it has been alleged that a diminution of the catch of demersal 
fish already has become apparent, and it is necessary to examine the 
evidence in respect to the allegation. The statement made is that the 
beginning of the effects of otter trawling on the abundance of fishes 
on the banks became apparent during 1913 in the quantity of fish 
landed at Boston. The following table gives the landings at that 
port for a series of years: 



Year. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


Year. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


1909 


84, 794, 303 
96,341,387 
99,020,127 


82,225,383 
2,611,813 
2,705,861 


1912 


104,978,427 
92,317,920 
92,252,880 


$2,718,304 
2,869,472 
2,622,919 


1910 


1913... 


1911 


1914 







This table shows that there was a gradual increase in the total 
catch from 1909, when there was but one otter-trawl vessel, until and 
including 1912, when there were six in commission, but that in 1913, 

86066°— 15 3 



32 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



when three more entered the fishery, there was a sudden fall in the 
quantity, though a slight increase in the value of the fish landed. 
In 1914 about the same quantity of fish was taken as in the preceding 
year. 

This may be the result of the operation of any one or several of 
a number of factors, among which may be mentioned the condition 
of the markets for fish and labor, the weather, the natural irregu- 
larities of the migrations of the fishes themselves or an actual de- 
crease in the fishes due to the fisheries or to natural causes. That the 
falling off in quantity was not due to a decrease in demand is indi- 
cated by the considerably higher price per pound brought by the 
fish in 1913 as compared with the preceding year. 

That for several years there has been a deficiency of fishermen to 
man the schooners in the line fishery is well known. This is due 
partly to the introduction of gill netting in the fishery for cod and 
haddock, which withdrew a number of men from the line fisheries, 
and partly to the migration of a number of the fishermen to the 
Pacific coast. Also, a number of schooners have been sold to persons 
in Nova Scotia and elsewhere, and this, together with the paucity 
of men, has reduced the activity of the line fishery. From 1908 to 
1914 the number of trips of line-caught fish landed at Boston fell 
from 4,493 to 3,089, a reduction of 31 per cent. To eliminate this 
factor as far as possible and to reduce the catch to a basis of a unit 
of effort expended in making it, tables and diagrams showing the 
fish landed at Boston for a period of years are presented. 

Quantities of Cod, Haddock, and Hake Taken on all Banks by American 
Line Vessels Landing Theib Catch at Boston and Gloucester, 1891 to 
1914, Inclusive. 





Num- 
ber of 
trips. 


Cod. 


Haddock. 


Hake. 


All kinds. 


Year. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


Per 

trip. 


Total. 


Per 

trip. 


Total. 


1891 


4,119 


Pounds. 
4,043 


Pounds. 
16,655,200 


Pounds. 
8,220 


Pounds. 
33,860,197 


Pounds. 
2,997 


Pounds. 
12,347,730 


Pounds. 
15,261 


Pounds. 
62,863,127 






1893 


3,826 
4,537 
4,271 
4,187 
4,085 
3,491 
3,866 
3,731 
3,403 
3,981 
3,818 
4,056 
4,280 


4,201 
4,780 
4,674 
4,836 
5,196 
4,263 
5,091 
4,748 
4,963 
5,836 
5,600 
4,605 
5,811 


16,075,290 
21,687,330 
19,965,150 
20,251,160 
21,229,700 
14,882,500 
19,684,550 
17,717,650 
16,892,450 
23,233,900 
21,381,350 
18,678,525 
24,872,200 


8,162 
8,706 
8,475 
6,904 
6,760 
6,235 
6,504 
7,567 
7,267 
8,575 
9,747 
10,087 
12,313 


3i, 229, 350 
39,502,450 
36,199,900 
28,909,200 
27,614,750 
21,769,300 
25,145,160 
28,235,850 
24,731,350 
34,138,850 
37,216,200 
40,916,300 
52,700,650 


3,029 
3,275 
2,457 
1,560 
1,613 
2,114 
2,196 
1,853 
2,191 
2,065 
2,519 
2,775 
2,223 


11,590,400 
14,863,100 
10,497,400 
6,535,300 
6,590,500 
7,382,430 
8,489,800 
6,917,100 
7, 457, 850 
8, 223, 850 
9, 617, 750 
11,258,100 
9,516,500 


15,393 
16, 762 
15,608 
13,302 
13,570 
12, 613 
13, 791 
14,170 
14,423 
16,477 
17, 866 
17, 468 
20,347 


58,895,040 


1894 


76,052,880 


1895 


66,662,450 


1896 


55, 695, 660 


1897 


55,434,950 


1S9S 


44,034,230 


1899 


53,319,510 


1900 


52,870,600 


1901 


49,081,650 


1902 


65,596,600 


1903 


68,215,300 


1904 


70,852,925 


1905 


87,089,350 


1906a 




1907 a 




















1908 


4,493 
4,740 
4,487 
3,793 
3,381 
3, 250 
3,089 


6,258 
5,417 
5,744 
5,573 
6,347 
5,577 
6,527 


28,119,400 
25,678,900 
25,777,210 
21,139,800 
21,460,350 
18,127,912 
20,163,129 


8,518 
7,756 
9,364 
10,630 
11,774 
10,313 
10,349 


38,272,500 
36,766,255 
42,016,820 
40,320,200 
39,810,500 
33,519,547 
31,970,866 


2,764 
2,404 
3,644 
2,949 
3,335 
3,046 
2,327 


12,419,500 
11,395,000 
16,353,100 
11,186,225 
11,276,050 
9,900,945 
7,190,065 


17,540 
15,578 
18, 753 
19, 152 
21,457 
18,937 
19,204 


78,811,400 


1909 


73, 840, 150 


1910 


84,147,130 


1911 


72,646,225 


1912 


72,546,900 


1913 


61,548,404 


1914 


59,324,060 







a Data not available. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY 



33 



The preceding table and the following diagram based on it apply 
to the three most important food fishes of the banks— the cod, had- 
dock, and hake— and reduce the catches for the several years enumer- 
ated 'to a common basis of the average yield per trip, which, within 
certain limits, may be considered as indicating the relative annual 
abundance of the fish in the regions frequented by the fishing fleets. 




The yield per trip of trawl liners fishing on all banks was less in 
1914 than in 1912, but was equal to or more than in three of the 
five years immediately preceding, and this is true not only of the 
aggregate, but essentially true of each of the species named. There 
is, furthermore, a general upward trend of the catch per trip from 
about 1896 to the present time, and the average since 1910, when the 



34 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



steam-trawl fleet began to increase, has been higher than for any 
preceding like period since 1891. There is, therefore, no statistical 
evidence of a decrease on the fishing banks as a whole. 

A majority of the trips represented in this table were made tc 
banks on which the otter trawlers fish little or not at all, and th« 
point may be raised that the destructive effects of the trawls might 
be masked by the returns of fish from distant banks which were not 
affected. To examine into this phase of the subject and to develop 
the locale of such diminution as may have occurred, the following 
tables and diagrams have been prepared : 



Quantity or Cod, Haddock, and Hake Taken on all Grounds Except Georges 
Bank, South Channel, and Nantucket Shoals by American Line Vessels ' 
Landing Their Catch at Boston and Gloucester, 1S91 to 1914, Inclusive. 





Num- 
ber of 
trips. 


Cod. 


Haddock. 


Hake. 


All kinds. 


Year. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


1891 


2,909 


Pounds. 
2,882 


Pounds. 
8,384,200 


Pounds. 
5,034 


Pounds. 
14,643,997 


Pounds. 
4,060 


Pounds. 
11,812,605. 


Pounds. 
11,976 


Pounds. 
34,840,802 


1S93 

1NJ4 

1895 


2,586 

3, 130 

2, 814 


2,985 
3,473 
3,049 
2,861 
3,140 
2,012 
3,529 
3,478 
3, 043 
4, (ICO 
4,210 
2,958 
2,881 


7, 719, 690 
10, 873, 430 
8,580,750 
7,701,260 
8, 743, 100 
6,649,900 
9,488,350 
8,835,650 
9,123,850 
10,095,650 
10,184,750 
7,281,225 
6,850,000 


4,728 
4,792 
4,804 
4,018 
3,871 
3,536 
3,266 
4,144 
4,380 
4,734 
6,220 
5,170 
6,328 


12,226,750 
14,999,350 
13,518,900 
10,813,900* 
10,778,050 
9,000,150 
8,779,460 
10,526,650 
10,968,350 
11,931,850 
15,048,500 
12,725,700 
15,049,450 


2,985 
2,911 
1,9S7 
1,128 
1,212 
1,435 
1,527 
1,247 
1,840 
1,312 
1,758 
2,218 
2,050 


7,720,000 
9,113,200 
5,593,000 
3,035,600 
3,376,000 
3,652,230 
4,105,200 
3, 168, 500 
4,608,750 
3,307,950 
4,253,050 
5,459,900 
4,877,100 


10,698 
11,177 
9,841 
8,008 
8,224 
7, 584 
8, 323 
8,870 
9,864 
10,053 
12,189 
10,348 
11,260 


27, 666, 440 
34,985,980 
27,692,650 


1896 


2,091 
2,781 
2, 545 
2, 688 
2, 540 
2,504 
2,520 
2,419 
2,461 


21,550,760 


1897 


22,897,150 


1598 


19,302,280 


1899 


22,373,010 


1900 


22, 530, 800 


1901 


24,700,950 


1902 


25, 335, 400 


1903 


29,486,300 


1904 


25,466,825 


1905 


2,378 


26,776,550 




















1908 


2,9SS 
3,373 
3,126 
2,806 
2, 209 
2,242 
2,153 


3,398 
3,174 
3,364 
4,203 
4,406 
3,927 
6,469 


10,155,000 
10,706,500 
10,516,100 
11,795,550 
9,733,950 
8,805,648 
13,929,217 


5,313 
5,960 
5,630 
5,336 
6,545 
7,609 
6,460 


15, 875, 400 
20,105,150 
17,599,550 
14,974,200 
14,459,300 
17,060,431 
13,909,607 


2,059 
2,248 
3,871 
2,567 
2,943 
3,096 
2,760 


6,151,500 
7,584,600 
12,102,300 
7,204,125 
6,502,650 
6,941,526 
5,944,051 


10,770 
11,383 
12,865 
12,107 
13,896 
14,633 
15, 691 


32,181,900 


1909 


38,396,250 


1910 


40,217,950 


1911 


33,973,875 


1912 


30,695,900 


1913 


32, 807, 605 


1914 


33,782,875 







a Data not available. 

The otter trawls have been used almost exclusively on Georges 
Bank, South Channel, and Nantucket Shoals; and it will be seen 
that, excluding these grounds, the catch per trip of cod, haddock, and 
hake, collectively, by liners, has exhibited a gradual and almost 
uninterrupted increase from 1908 to 1914, the aggregate gain during 
that time being nearly 45 per cent. So far as the individual species 
were concerned, the catch of cod per trip in 1914 was larger than in 
any other year enumerated; the catch of haddock was larger than 
in any year, except 1912 and 1913, being much smaller than in 1913 ; 
and of hake about as many were caught as in any year, excepting 
1891 and 1910. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



35 



































v s 7$ 2 


>* -v - £\ ■*-"- -^/ 


5i-V v 1 ^^ -p. Z£C 


LaaQQ S _, t BllSl _ _ _ 


_ L /Z 








^v > 


Zv 


S - ^3 


■g 7S /=»,! 7 Z. 4 \ 




i SQQ1 A 5^:11 Ij;^ + ; !~ _/ 


2 v = * fDiiaici' 7 




~<* x v ~ — =.„ ^ Z'--Z'5> jyf s 




""l!*"^ -"■" S ^ 7 _--°Ja 6 "J S.-' — " i - 






s---'"^ 7 1' EGaQi: 






laaS 31 120.0. 53 X913l 15 






5S2a3»: 















Diagram showing the catch per trip by American line vessels fishing on all 
Georges Bank, South Channel, and Nantucket Shoals. 



grounds except 



Quantity of Cod, Haddock, and Hake Taken on Georges Bank, South Chan- 
nel, and Nantucket Shoals, by American Line Vessels Landing Their 
Catch at Boston and Gloucester, 1S91 to 1914, Inclusive. 



Year. 



Num- 
ber of 

trips. 



Cod. 



Per 
trip. 



Total. 



Haddock. 



Per 
trip. 



Total. 



Hake. 



Per 

trip. 



Total. 



All kinds. 



Per 

trip. 



Total. 



1891- 
1893a 

1894- 
1895- 
1S96. . 
1897. 
1898. 
1899. 
1900. 
1901. 
1902. 
1903. 
1904. 
1905. 
1906. 
1907. 
1908. 
1909. 
1910. 
1911. 
1912. 
1913. 
1914. 



1,210 
1,240 
1,407 
1,457 
1,496 
1,301 

946 
1,178 
1,191 

899 
1,461 
1,399 
1,595 
1,902 
1,901 
1,674 
1,505 
1,367 
1,361 

987 
1,172 
1,008 

941 



Pounds. 
6,835 
6,738 
7,685 
7,813 
8,388 
9,597 
8,702 
8,655 
7,457 
8,641 
8,992 
8,003 
7,145 
9,475 
10, 150 
11, 256 
11,936 
10, 952 
11,213 
9,467 
10,005 
9,248 
6,602 



Pounds. 
8,271,000 
8,355,600 
10,813,900 
11,384,400 
12,549,900 
12, 486, 600 
8, 232, 600 
10, 196, 200 
8, 882, 000 
7, 768, 600 
13, 138, 300 
11, 196, 600 
11,397,300 
18, 022, 200 
19, 296, 800 
18, 843, 500 
17,904,400 
14,972,400 
15,261,110 
9,344,250 
11,726,400 
9,322,264 
6,213,312 



Pounds 
15, 881 
15,324 
17,415 
15, 566 
12, 095 
12, 941 
13, 498 
13, 892 
14, 869 
15, 309 
15, 199 
15, 845 
17,674 
19, 795 
17, 565 
12, 966 
14, 881 
12, 188 
17,940 
25, 679 
21,630 
16,328 
19,230 



Pounds. 
19, 216, 200 
19, 002, 600 
24,503,100 
22,681,000 
18,095,300 
16,836,700 
12, 769, 150 
16, 365, 700 
17,709,200 
13, 763, 000 
22, 207, 000 
22, 167, 700 
28,190,600 
37,651,200 
33,392,000 
21, 706, 600 
22,397,100 
16,661,100 
24,417,270 
25,346,000 
25,351,200 
16, 459, 116 
18,095,059 



Pounds 
442 
3,121 
4, 086 
3,366 
2,339 
2,470 
3,943 
3,722 
3,147 
3,169 
3,364 
3,834 
3,635 
2,439 
2,113 
2,271 
4,164 
2,787 
3,123 
4,034 
4,072 
2,935 
1,344 



Pounds. 
535, 125 
3, 870, 400 
5, 749, 900 
4, 904, 400 
3,499,700 
3,214,500 
3, 730, 200 
4,384,600 
3, 748, 600 
2, 849, 100 
4,915,900 
5,364,700 
5, 798, 200 
4,639,400 
4,018,600 
3,801,900 
6,268,000 
3,810,400 
4, 250, 800 
3,982,100 
4,773,400 
2, 959, 419 
1,265,314 



Pounds 
23, 158 
25, 1S4 
29,187 
26, 746 
22, 824 
25,009 
20, 143 
26, 270 
25, 474 
27,119 
27, 557 
27,683 
28, 454 
31, 709 
29, 830 
26, 494 
30, 983 
25, 928 
32, 277 
39, 181 
35,709 
28, 512 
27, 177 



Pounds. 

28, 022, 325 

31,228,600 

41,066,900 

38, 969, S00 

34,144,900 

32,537,800 

24,731,950 

30, 946, 500 

30, 339, 800 

24,380,700 

40,261,200 

38,729,000 

45,386,100 

60,312,800 

56,707,400 

44,352,000 

46, 629, 500 

35,443,900 

43,929,180 

38,672,350 

41,851,000 

28, 740, 799 

25,573,685 



o Data not available for 1892. 



Referring to the table showing the results of line fishing on 
Georges Bank, South Channel, and Nantucket Shoals, a different 



36 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



condition is apparent. There the total catch per trip was smaller 
than in any year since 1908, excepting 1909; the catch of cod was 
the lowest recorded ; more haddock were caught than in any year, 
excepting 1905, 1911, and 1912; and fewer hake were taken than in 
any year since 1891. 

An examination of the following table and diagram, exhibiting the 
catch of the otter trawls, shows that the catch per trip of the gadoid 
fishes as a whole in 1914 was about equal to that of 1913 and lower 
than for any other year, excepting 1908 and 1909. Fewer cod were 
taken in 1914 than in any year, excepting 1910; fewer haddock than 
in three of the preceding six years. 

Quantities of Cod, Haddock, and Hake Taken by Otter Trawlers from 
Georges Bank and South Channel, 190S to 1914, Inclusive. 





Num- 
ber 
of 
trips. 


Cod. 


Haddock. 


Hake. 


All kinds. 


Year. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


1908 


44 
47 
59 
178 
295 
326 
387 


Pounds. 
4,767 
3,400 
2,133 
3,171 
6,620 
5,115 
2,970 


Pounds. 

209, 800 

159,800 

125, 850 

564, 500 

1,952,950 

1,667,806 

1, 149, 595 


Pounds. 
35, 045 
36, 574 
47, 033 
41,388 
43, 954 
38, 309 
39, 750 


Pounds. 
1,542,000 
1,719,000 
2,775,000 
7, 367, 100 
12, 966, 700 
12, 488, 992 
15,383,550 


Pounds. 
1,059 
1,582 
789 
852 
355 
642 
670 


Pounds. 
46, 600 
74, 400 
46, 600 
151,700 
105, 500 
209, 485 
259, 913 


Pounds. 
40, 872 
41,557 
49, 956 
45,411 
50, 932 
44, 068 
43,392 


Pounds. 
1,798,400 


1909 


1,953,200 


1910 


2,947,450 


1911 


8,083,300 


1912 


15,025,150 


1913 


14,366,2&3 


1914 


16,793,058 







There is ample evidence, therefore, that the catch of the principal 
food fishes on the banks frequented by the otter trawlers was con- 
siderably smaller in 1913 than for several years preceding, while 
on the banks on which there is little or no traw 7 ling there was a 
material increase, the catch on all banks combined being slightly 
above the average for the past six years. If the investigations had 
been made in 1911 or 1912, the statistical evidence would have tended 
to show an increase rather than a decrease during the same period 
in the average catch of fish by both otter trawls and lines on Georges 
Bank and South Channel. 

In 1914, as compared with 1913, both liners and trawlers made 
smaller catches of cod per trip to Georges Bank, South Channel, 
and Nantucket Shoals and larger catches of haddock. On the 
other hand, the trips to all other banks yielded a smaller average 
catch of haddock and a larger catch of cod. If this can be held to 
mean anything, it is that during 1914 there were more haddock 
and fewer cod on the banks frequented by the trawlers and that 
the data indicate that there was merely a shifting of the schools 
of these fish from one region to another, the average on all banks 
combined remaining practically uniform. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



37 



The foregoing applies to that period only during which the 
steam trawlers have been a factor in the fishery, but the tables 




Diagram showing catch per trip by American line vessels fishing on Georges Bank, South 
Channel, and Nantucket Shoals. 

and diagrams of the line-fishery catches supply almost complete data 
back to 1891. Considering this longer period, it will be seen that 



38 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



the average catch per trip fell rather sharply from 1891 to about 
1896 to 1897, but that since those years there has been a net in- 
crease both on the banks fished by the steam trawlers and on those 
which are rarely or never so fished. The sharpest fluctuations, 
however, are shown on the banks and during the period covered 
by the otter-trawl fishery. On Georges Bank, South Channel, and 





















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Catch per trip by otter trawlers fishing principally on Georges Bank and South Channel. 

Nantucket Shoals, the heaviest catch of haddock ever made as well 
as the lowest since 1896 occurred within this period, but the lowest 
catches per trip were when but one steam trawler was operating, 
and the largest and next to the largest came after the fleet had 
been considerably augmented. 

After this report had been nearly completed, it was represented 
to the committee that during the year 1914 the fishery on Georges 
Bank, particularly for haddock, had been very unsatisfactory and 
that the line fisherman had practically ceased to resort to these 
grounds on that account. To test this allegation, the following 



OTT ER-T HAW t FISH ERY. 



41 



tables and the diagrams based on them have been prepared, show- 
ing the total annual catches and the average catches per trip of 
Gloucester vessels for a period of years. Gloucester alone was con- 
sidered because all vessels from that port are liners, while the 
Boston fleet comprises the otter trawlers, which have gradually 
increased in numbers and have made it more difficult, therefore, to 
present valid comparisons between the several years. 

Quantities of Cod, Haddock, and Hake Taken by Gloucester Line Fisher- 
men on Georges Bank, 1905 to 1914, Inclusive. 





Num- 
ber 
of 

trips. 


Cod. 


Haddock. 


Hake. 


All kinds. 


Year. 


Per 

trip. 


Total. 


Per 
trip. 


Total. 


Per 

trip. 


Total. 


Per 

trip. 


Total. 


1905 


478 
418 
361 
316 
207 
187 
211 
268 
1S1 
123 


Pounds. 
11,410 
15,215 
17, 135 
22, 930 
23,940 
28, 516 
18,909 
20, 306 
21,927 
19, 679 


Pounds. 

5,451,071 

6, 359, 900 

6, 185, 881 

7,246,011 

4,955,585 

5,332,487 

3, 989, 879 

5,441,802 

3, 968, 716 

2,420,597 


Pounds. 

11,720 

21,377 

8,994 

11,860 

4,758 

8,255 

8,591 

12,606 

14,C14 

21,305 


Pounds. 
5, 602, 212 
8, 935, 735 
3,246,682 
3, 747, 820 
984, 830 
1,543,775 
1, 812, 803 
3,378,439 
2, 645, 060 
2, 620, 525 


Pounds. 

790 

1,495 

1,232 

646 

343 

441 

1,074 

610 

194 

552 


Pounds. 

337, 804 

625, 091 

444,616 

203,998 

70, 930 

82, 493 

226,638 

163,607 

35, 143 

67,919 


Pounds. 
23,921 
38,0S8 
27,361 
35, 436 
29,040 
37,212 
23, 836 
33, 522 
36, 734 
41, 536 


Pounds. 
11,391,087 


1906 


15, 920, 726 


1907 


9,877,179 


1908 


11,197,829 


1909 


6,011 349 


1910 


6,958 755 


1911 


5 029 320 


1912 


8, 983' 848 


1913 


6 648 919 


1914 


5 109 041 







From the tables and diagrams several facts appear. In the first 
place, since 1005 there has been a general large and fairly continuous 
decrease in the combined catch of the principal species and of the 
cod taken on Georges Bank by Gloucester vessels using lines. In the 
case of the haddock there was an enormous decrease from 1005 to 
1000, but since then there has been a general increase in the total 
quantity landed at Gloucester. 

Synchronously with these developments, there has been a heavy 
decrease in the number of trips, and this decrease was numerically 
greatest prior to 1000, when there was but one steam trawler in 
service. The falling off in the totals was, therefore, to some extent 
due to a reduction of fishing activity by the Gloucester vessels, and 
to eliminate this variable we have reduced the catch to a basis of 
quantity per trip and have found that the catch per trip of cod, 
haddock, and hake combined was greater in 1014 than in any year 
since 1005 at least and of haddock was about equal to that of 1006 
and much greater than for any other year of the period considered. 
The catch of cod per trip was greater in 1014 than during four of 
the preceding nine years. The average catch per trip of cod and 
haddock each, and of these two combined with the hake, was greater 
for the five years 1010 to 1014, inclusive, than it was for the preced- 
ing five-year period. 



38 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



We find, therefore, that there is no statistical support for the 
claim that the haddock, or any other demersal fish on Georges, has 




Diagram showing the total combined catch of cod, haddock, and hake, in hundredweights, 
average catch per trip in pounds, and number of trips made by Gloucester line fisher- 
men on Georges Bank. The heavy horizontal lines show the average catch for five-year 
periods. 

shown signs of overfishing since the first use of the steam trawler 
in 1005. 



OTTER-TRA.I^ FISHERY. 



41 



The increase in the catch of haddock per voyage of liners in 1914 
can not be ascribed to an increased catch of scrod, for very few of 
the latter were taken, and the data show that very few are taken by 
liners even when the small fish are present in large numbers and are 
taken by the trawlers on the same ground. An examination of the 




Diagram showing the total catch of cod in hundredweights, average catch per trip in 
pounds, and number of trips made by Gloucester line fishermen on Georges Bank. The 
heavy horizontal lines show the average catch for five-year periods. 

monthly returns of this fishery shows that about 80 per cent of the 
haddock were taken in August and September, when the average 
per trip was nearly 40,000 pounds, as compared with an average of 
nearly 21,000 pounds for the year. The average for the remaining 
months was therefore comparatively low, and this doubtless has 



42 



M 



OTTER-TRA»VL fishery. 



given rise to the opinion of the fishermen that the fishery has been 
a failure, a view in which we can not concur. The total yield for 
the year is the true criterion. It may be noted that the heaviest 







































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Diagram showing the total catch of haddock in hundredweights, average catch per trip in 
pounds, and number of trips made by Gloucester line fishermen on Georges Bank. The 
heavy horizontal lines show the average catch for five-year periods. 

catch of the Boston fleet was made in January, February, and March, 
when Gloucester vessels made a monthly average of four trips to 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 43 

Georges, as compared with an average of over 12 trips per month 
for the rest of the year. 

Considering all of the data available respecting the supply of fish 
and particularly the haddock, the species most conspicuous in the 
catch of the otter trawlers, we can see no evidence of the depletion 
of the supply on the fishing grounds frequented by the otter trawl- 
ers. The average catch per trip shows no diminution from that made 
prior to the introduction of the steam trawlers. 

DENUDATION OF THE BOTTOM BY OTTER TRAWLERS. 

One of the most vigorously urged objections to the use of the otter 
trawl is that it tears loose, dislodges, crushes, and destroys the marine 
animal and vegetable growths which in places cover the bottom on 
the fishing banks. It is upon these sessile or attached organisms and 
the animals of many kinds to which they give harbor that the bot- 
tom fishes feed, and if it can be shown that any method of fishing 
or any practice of the fisheries denudes the bottom of any consider- 
able proportion of these growths, it would establish abundant rea- 
son for regarding such fishery or practice as inimical to the pro- 
ductiveness of the banks. 

The attached animals on the banks consist generally of sponges; 
hydroids and bryozoans, collectively called " sea moss " by the fisher- 
men; ascidians, known as "lemons" and "strawberries"; sea ane- 
mones; mussels and other mollusks; burrowing and tube-building 
worms ("macaroni") ; barnacles, etc. With the exception of many 
of the worms which burrow in sand or mud, the sessile forms are 
attached to rocks, pebbles, and shells, or to one another. Finding 
shelter among these or lying on the bottom are various species of 
crabs, shrimps, and other crustaceans; scallops, clams, and other 
bivalve mollusks; a variety of gasteropods or snail-like mollusks; 
many starfishes and brittle stars; sea urchins; sea cucumbers or 
"pumpkins"; worms; and fishes of various kinds, all preying or 
being preyed upon and in complex and intimate relation to one 
another generally. There are many minute animals and plants on 
the bottom and on the bottom growths or in the overlying water. 
Of these the microscopic plants are highly important, as they, with 
the seaweeds, are the fundamental source of food, direct or indirect, 
of all marine animals. Some of the fishes feed directly on these 
organisms, while others feed on animals which either consume them 
directly or at some more or less proximate stage find them in the 
chain of elaboration of their food supply. 

The immediately important commercial fishes taken by the line 
trawlers are haddock, cod, and, to a less degree, hake. The same 
market fish with the addition of the "sole" are taken by the otter 



44 OTTER-TEAWL FISHERY. 

trawlers. Both methods of fishing catch a few halibut and certain 
edible fishes which are not marketed. The haddock and the cod are 
the principal species sought, and were it not for these the bank 
fisheries would not exist under present economic conditions. 

Both of these fish are bottom feeders, and while they feed to some 
extent on young or small fishes, their diet consists principally of in- 
vertebrates such as constitute the bottom fauna of the banks. They 
all sometimes contain pieces of herring and similar fishes, but there is 
good reason to believe that in most cases these are baits taken from 
the lines. Most of the food consists of echinoderms (starfishes, brittle 
stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers; lamellibranchs (scallops, 
mussels, and other bivalves) ; gasteropods (various snail-like mol- 
lusks) ; crustaceans (crabs and shrimps) ; and annelids (worms). 
Although these fishes spawn on some of the banks, they resort to 
them primarily for food; and there is no doubt that if the bottom 
growth were destroyed the productiveness of the fishing banks would 
be seriously impaired if not destroyed, and it is therefore important 
to the present inquiry that the methods of fishing now pursued 
should be considered in relation to their effects on the denudation 
of the bottom. 

In this respect the trawl-line fishery is innocuous and need not be 
discussed, but the otter trawl operates in such manner as to raise a 
valid assumption against it and to demand a critical examination of 
its effects. As the otter trawl, as a whole, sweeps over an area of 
about 80 acres at each haul and many square miles in the course of a 
year's fishing, the assumption has been that its effects on the bottom 
growths of necessity must be disastrous; and the observers on the 
steamers were instructed particularly to note the quantity and char- 
acter of the bottom materials brought up. Most of the sand, broken 
shells, and other fine material not bound together by worm tubes, etc., 
undoubtedly would wash through the mesh and would not figure in 
the load landed on deck, but a large part of the bottom growth, 
which, and not the bottom itself, is the important factor in the pres- 
ent inquiry, would come up in the trawl. 

Much of the data submitted by the observers are too vague for 
quantitative consideration, but one man definitely states the quan- 
tities in bushels in his monthly analysis of the results of his obser- 
vations on each bank. From his returns it is deduced that the aver- 
age quantity of scallops, clams, shells, sponges, starfishes, and bottom 
material generally, varied with the month and the locality, from a 
small fraction of a bushel to 4.7 bushels per haul, the latter being 
the average of 26 hauls made in South Channel in August, 1913. 

A simple computation shows that this maximum represents a film 
0.00024 inch in thickness spread over the area swept by the trawl, or. 
to state the case in another way, a little pile of material 1 foot 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 45 

square and 9 inches high on each acre traversed. This means 
either that a small proportion of the existing bottom material was 
captured by the net, which is probable, or that there was very little 
material to take. In either case the result to the fishery is trivial and 
negligible, as the whole quantity, shells and all, if eaten by the 
marketable haddock and cod alone taken in the same hauls would 
constitute a morsel of but about 2|- cubic inches for each — a very 
small meal, indeed — and leave nothing for the many other fishes 
taken at the same time. 

But, the evidence shows, this material was not destroyed but 
thrown overboard when the decks were cleared after each haul, the 
uninjured organisms in large part to carry on their lives as before, 
and the dead shells to lie again on the bottom and serve as places 
for attachment for other growths. Any crushed scallops, mussels, 
etc., undoubtedly would be eaten by fishes or by animals on which 
the fishes feed, for no dead organic matter is permitted to lie long 
unutilized on the floor of the sea. Fragments of sponges would each 
begin to grow into a new sponge, and mutilated starfishes would 
soon reproduce the injured or lost parts, if they did not fall prey 
to the fishes in the meantime. This modicum of captured and lib- 
erated material would therefore be little if any diverted from the 
function which it would have discharged if it had remained unmo- 
lested on the bottom. It is claimed, however, that but part of the 
damage wrought to the bottom by the trawls is represented by the 
material brought up in the nets, greater quantities of the bottom 
organisms being torn loose, crushed, and mutilated. To the extent 
that this may be true, the preceding remarks on the utilization of 
the detached and injured organisms also apply. It is, of course, 
impossible to observe the action of trawls operated in depths as great 
as are found in the bank fisheries, but by an examination of the catch, 
the method of operating the apparatus, and comparison with the 
known effects of similar appliances, conclusions of some value may 
be deduced. 

There are three parts of the otter trawl which scrape the bottom : 
The boards, the foot line, and the net itself. The boards each weigh 
about 1,500 pounds in the air or about 900 pounds in the water, 
and as they are 12 feet long and 2£ inches thick they bear on the 
bottom with a pressure of a little less than 3 pounds to the square 
inch. This is a little less than the standing pressure of an average 
man. When the net is fishing, the otter boards are set with the 
short sides vertical and their long sides at an angle of about 20 
degrees or less to the direction of motion, and as they are 12 feet 
long each scrapes a strip about 4| feet wide. As the average haul 
of an otter trawl is about 6 miles, the two boards scrape on each 
haul a surface of about 6| acres. An average of about 35 hauls 
was made on each trip observed, and on this basis it is computed 



46 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

that on the 326 trips made by the steam trawlers in 1913 the boards 
alone scraped about 115 square miles of the bottom, provided they 
were in constant contact. 

The footline or ground rope forms the front border of that part 
of the net lying on the bottom. It stretches in a curve between 
the otter boards, is about 140 feet long, and 3^ to 4 inches in di- 
ameter. It is composed of a core of steel wire rope about 1 inch 
in diameter, heavily served with marlin and rope partly to protect 
the wire from chafing, but principally' to prevent undue cutting into 
the bottom. The ground rope weighs about 800 pounds in the air, 
but as rope is but little heavier than water and the wire weighs 
not over 150 or 160 pounds, it is certain that when at rest it does 
not exert a pressure in excess of 2 pounds per linear foot. 

The ground rope sweeps over a strip about 100 feet wide, and 
using the same data employed in the discussion of the otter boards 
this would cover an area of about 73 acres per haul and about 
1,300 square miles for all hauls made by the steam trawlers in 1913. 

The net with its chafing gear, a device of old netting to minimize 
abrasion on the bottom, weighs about 800 pounds in air, but very 
little in water. As fish weigh but little more than water, the catch 
adds nothing to the pressure of the net on the bottom unless it 
includes stones, sand, shells, and other heavy materials. The net, 
being attached to and following the ground rope, sweeps over the 
same area. 

The otter boards, by virtue of their inclined position to the line 
of draft through the water, act, when resting on the bottom, like 
the scraper of a road machine, such material as they dislodge or 
tear loose passing backward and inward toward the net. As the 
purpose of the boards is to spread the net laterally, no useful pur- 
pose is served by permitting them to plow deeply, and the ideal 
practice is to have them skim over the bottom as lightly as possible. 
The drag of the towing warps, inclining upward toward the vessel, 
tends to lift the boards, especially at the forward ends, and this 
tendency increases with the speed at which they are towed and, at 
any given depth, inversely with the length of warp paid out. With 
the speed too great or the warp too short, the boards and with them 
the net may be lifted quite clear of the bottom. A slight lifting 
of the boards is permissible and perhaps desirable, but if the ground 
rope raises materially, the efficiency of the net is impaired. 

There are two instruments employed in fisheries in other parts 
of the world for taking bottom growths, the effects of which are 
comparatively well known, and a consideration of these, by analogy, 
may be of some assistance in the formulation of an opinion as to 
the effects of the otter trawl. One of these is the dredge extensively 
employed in the oyster fishery. This consists of a short chain bag 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 47 

or net, attached to a rectangular steel frame, about 4 feet on its 
long sides. The average weight of these dredges is about 150 pounds, 
and the long sides of the frames are provided with 15 or more long, 
steel teeth which dig into the bottom as the instrument is dragged 
over the beds. They are designed especially to tear the oysters 
from the bed, and incidentally they bring up sponges, starfishes, 
mussels, and other bottom organisms. 

It is estimated on good data that in Maryland the dredging ves- 
sels in the course of the season's work cover with their dredges 
an area equal to about three times that of the oyster beds, or, in 
other words, an average acre or square mile is scraped three times 
in the course of the year. These beds have been intensively dredged 
annually for many years, and while some of them have been de- 
pleted, they are still producing large quantities of oysters wherever 
care has been exercised to return to the beds all shells and small 
oysters. Where the beds have been depleted it is in nearly every 
case due to neglect to comply with the requirements of the law in 
this respect. 

The other implement to which reference was made in a pre- 
ceding paragraph is the gaugava, a peculiar type of dredge trawl 
used in the Mediterranean sponge fisheries. It consists of a short 
bag net of heavy twine attached to a rectangular frame about 35 
feet long and 2 feet high. The lower side and about half of the two 
ends is composed of an iron bar 2^ to 3 inches in diameter weigh- 
ing about 600 or 700 pounds, and the top of the frame is a wooden 
bar 5 or 6 inches in diameter. This implement is towed at a speed 
of about 1 to 1| miles per hour, and the length of the towing warp 
is so adjusted that the iron bar scours the bottom without burrow- 
ing. The purpose of the gaugava is to tear commercial sponges 
from their firm attachments to the bottom and incidentally it brings 
up all other bottom growths. It is undoubtedly the most destructive 
method of sponge fishing, as it tears from their attachment many 
commercial sponges too small for the market which would be valu- 
able if permitted to become a year or two older. Yet 150 vessels 
are using this appliance on the coast of Tunisia, and while the 
beds have been depleted to some extent and require occasional peri- 
ods of recuperation, they are after many years still profitably pro- 
ductive. Now both the oyster dredge and the gaugava are designed 
for tearing up and capturing the bottom growth, they are employed 
in a way to accomplish that purpose, and a large part of the material 
captured is not returned to the water. Each of them is much heavier 
than the ground rope of the otter trawl, the dredge weighing in 
water about 30 to 35 pounds to the linear foot, the gaugava about 
15 pounds, and the footrope of the trawl less than 2 pounds. 

86066°— 15 4 






48 OTTER-TEAWL FISHERY. 

The footrope of the trawl is of larger diameter than the frames of 
the other two implements, and, moreover, it is covered with rope, a 
cushioning material, while the others are bare steel. It is evident that 
if it were towed at the same speed as the oyster dredge and the gaugava 
it would do much less damage owing to its comparatively small 
weight per foot, but it is dragged at a much higher speed than the 
oyster dredge and at about three times the speed of the gaugava, 
which it more closely resembles. With the same length of warp, 
dredges and trawls touch the bottom more lightly the higher the 
speed at which they are towed, and at the same speed the lighter 
and more bulky gear lifts more freely than the heavier and more 
compact. That the otter trawl catches an insigificant quantity of 
bottom material as compared with the oyster dredge and the gau- 
gava has been shown by direct observation, and that it does a neg- 
ligible amount of damage not observable is clear from a comparison 
of the construction and methods of operation of the three types of 
apparatus and a consideration of the fact that years of intensive 
operation of the dredge and gaugava have by no means destroyed, 
although they have to some extent depleted, the beds on which they 
work, especially when recklessly used. The only parts of the otter 
trawl which have sufficient weight to effectively scrape the bottom 
of its attached organisms are the boards, and they cover but about 
10 per cent of the sweep of the net and undoubtedly are much of the 
time largely and part of the time wholly supported by the draft of 
the towing warps. 

It is believed, therefore, that denudation of the bottom is not a 
momentous factor in any injury which may be wrought to the fish- 
eries by the otter trawls. 

DESTRUCTION OF SPAWN BY OTTER TRAWLERS. 

The allegation sometimes made that the otter trawl destroys the 
spawn of food fishes can be dismissed with a simple negation. The 
eggs of all of the important food fishes of the New England coast 
and the banks, except the herring, are pelagic; that is, they float 
at or near the surface. 

The only destruction of spawn is that involved in taking spawn- 
ing fish, and such fish are also taken on hand lines on Georges Bank 
at least and by nets along the coast. 

INTERFERENCE OF THE OTTER TRAWL, WITH OTHER FISHERIES. 

The observers on the vessels were instructed to make note of all 
cases in which lines or other fishing gear were destroyed or inter- 
fered with by the steam trawlers. Very few cases of such destruc- 
tion or interference were noted. 

Mr. Walter H. Rich, who served from June to November, inclu- 
sive, most of the time on steam trawlers, but who made a number of 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 49 

trips on trawl liners, says: "The captains of all steamers use care 
in avoiding the trawls of the sail fleet when possible, often taking 
up the net before a haul was finished when they approached a line of 
dories engaged in fishing. On two occasions only did the writer see 
the gear of the line trawlers fouled in the net, both in thick fog, and 
in each case the line was cut and knotted together and put overside 
with no apparent damage to the gear." 

Mr. John N. Burrows, who made 10 trips on trawl liners between 
June 24 and December 29, most of them on banks fished by the otter 
trawlers, and served on otter trawlers from April to December, re- 
ports no cases of interference; and Mr. Thomas M. Douthart, who 
made observations on the steamers from January 17 to May 1 and 
one trip on a schooner, says: "The trawlers make particular effort 
to keep clear of other fishing gear." 

The testimony of the other observers was similar, and there is no 
doubt that during the year 1913 the damage to trawl lines was neg- 
ligible, and what little did occur was unintentional. 

GENERAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL QUESTIONS. 

The general economic and social effects of a change in the charac- 
ter of the bank fisheries, due to the introduction of otter trawling, 
are matters which we do not regard as within our province to dis- 
cuss in detail. We believe that the unregulated use of otter trawls 
will inevitably result in the practical displacement of the less efficient 
line fishery, and that this will induce a change in the character of 
the men manning the fleet, as the substitution of steam for sail power 
has changed the type of crews in the merchant marine and in the 
Navy. There is also the probability, in fact almost the certainty, 
that the change would result in a reduction in the number of in- 
dividual vessel owners and the concentration of ownership of fishing 
craft in the hands of a comparatively small number of firms and 
corporations. Whether or not these changes be desirable is a matter 
to be judged by the same criteria governing opinion respecting simi- 
lar phenomena affecting other industries. 

The regulation of the fisheries is predicated on the necessity of 
providing and conserving a common food supply, and the special 
protection which it receives at the hands of the Government is to 
that end. The consideration of broad subjects of social welfare 
should be divorced from special application, and we do not regard 
them as germane or peculiar to the investigation with which we are 
charged. 

It should be indicated, however, that the changes enumerated 
would have, in addition to a great reduction in the number of men 
employed on the fishing fleet, certain collateral results of wide reach- 



50 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



ing effect. The men employed in catching bait* would lose their 
calling; the cold-storage plants preserving food fish and bait at 
various places on the coasts would lose a material part of their 
business; shipbuilders, -manufacturers, and artisans employed in 
supplying the sailing fleet would find their business- destroyed or 
seriously curtailed; and a wide economic readjustment would be 
obligatory in many communities. 

On the other hand, the general substitution of otter trawls for 
lines will result in the stimulation of steel shipbuilding and related 
industries and furnish additional markets for coal, oil, and engineer- 
ing supplies. The trawl nets are now purchased in Great Britain. 
A canning establishment which recently began utilizing the bank 
fishes now depends largely on the otter trawls for its raw material. 
Whether its continuance is contingent on the permanence of the 
otter-trawl fishery is not known to us. 



EFFECTS OF OTTER TRAWLING ON THE PRICE OF FISH. 

An important element in the case of lines versus otter trawls is 
whether the introduction of the admittedly more efficient apparatus 
will result in a reduction in the cost of fish. The consumer, who is 
the factor of paramount economic importance, rarely is heard when 
industrial legislation is being considered, and for that reason we 
have departed from our avowed purpose to refrain from discussion 
of general economic matters not peculiar to the fisheries and have 
endeavored to arrive at an understanding as to the probable effect 
of otter trawls on the trend of prices. For this purpose we have 
examined the prices at which the important species of the cod 
family and fresh fish as a whole have sold in Boston during each 
year since 1898. These data are shown in the following table and 
in the diagram based thereon : 

Prices Received by Fishermen for Fresh Fish Landed at Boston, 1898 to 

1914, Inclusive. 





Cents per pound. 


Year. 


Cents per pound. 


Year. 


Cod. 


Had- 
dock. 


Hake. 


All 
fish, b 


Cod. 


Had- 
dock. 


Hake. 


All 
flsh.b 


1S98 


2.1 
2.2 
2.2 
2.7 
2.4 
2.9 
3.0 
2.6 
2.4 


1.7 
2.2 
2.0 
2.4 
2.2 
2.2 
2.3 
2.1 
2.0 


0.9 
1.1 
1.4 
l.S 
1.7 
1.6 
1.3 
1.7 
1.9 


1.8 
2.1 
2.2 
2.6 
2.4 
2.4 
2.5 
2.3 
2.2 


1907 


2.9 
2.7 
2.8 
3.0 
3.2 
3.3 
3.4 
2.7 


2.9 
2.5 
2.5 
2.5 
2.3 
2.2 
2.9 
2.5 


1.9 
1.7 
1.5 
1.6 
2.0 
1.8 
2.3 
2.2 


2 8 


1899 


190S 


2 5 


1900 


1909 


2.5 


1901 


1910 


2 6 


1902 


1911 


2.7 


1903 


1912 


2 6 


1904 


1913 


3.1 


1905 


1914 


2 8 


1906 











a Some estimates indicate that 50,000,000 pounds of bait, caught by boat and trap fishermen, are 
used in the line fisheries conducted by New England bank vessels. 
b Excepting mackerel. Herring could not be excluded for lack of data. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



51 



The table, and particularly the diagram plotted from it, shows a 
consistent, though fluctuating, increase during the 16 years ended in 
1913 in the prices of each of the species separately enumerated, as 
well as in the prices of fresh fish as a whole. At the end of that 
period all prices except for haddock were higher than ever, although 
for 1912 and the five years preceding there had been but little or 
no general price increase, the cod alone excepted. In 1914, however, 
there was a noteworthy drop in the price of cod, which was reflected 
in the average price for all fish, while haddock and hake likewise 
showed a decline. 

To determine whether the recent comparative maintenance of 
prices was due to the larger number of small fishes landed by the 











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Diagram showing average prices per pound received by fishermen for certain fishes landed 

in Boston. 



steam trawlers, the following table has been prepared. It should be 
explained, however, that the table immediately preceding and the 
one following, except for the year 1914, were derived from two sepa- 
rate sets of statistics and are, therefore, not exactly comparable, but 
each by itself indicates the general tendency of the prices. The 
first table was computed from the statistical bulletins of the Bureau 
of Fisheries, in which the trade sizes of cod, haddock, and hake were 
not available prior to 1914. The second table was taken from the 
books of the New England Fish Exchange, which provided data 
regarding the sizes as far back as 1909 only. 



R9 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



Average Prices of Fresh Bottom or Bank Fishes Sold at the New England 
Fish Exchange, Boston, 1909 to 1914, Inclusive. 



Species and sizes of fish. 


Cents per pound. 


1909 


1910 


1911 


1912 


1913 


1914 


Cod: 

Lanre 


3.3 
2.1 
1.8 

2.4 
1.7 

1.9 
1.2 
2.3 


3.5 
2.4 
2.4 

2.5 
2.0 

2.4 
1.6 

2.4 


3.S 
2.7 
2.1 

2.2 
1.9 

2.3 
1.5 
1.9 


3.9 
2.4 
1.8 

2.1 
1.5 

2.7 
1.3 
2.0 


4.6 
2.5 
1.7 

2.9 
2.1 

2.9 
1.6 
2.9 


4.1 


Market 


2.1 


Scrod 


1.4 


Haddock: 


2.6 


Scrod 


1.7 


Hake: 

Large 


3.1 


Small 


1.7 


Sole 


3.6 







It appears from this table that between 1909, when there was but 
one steam trawler fishing, and 1913, in the latter part of which 10 
such vessels were employed, there was an increase in the prices of 
all sizes of the principal demersal fishes, with the exception of scrod 
cod. This increase manifested itself in all years excepting 1912, 
when there was the largest catch of which we have record, and the 
prices of haddock and scrod haddock fell below those of the preced- 
ing 4 or 5 years. The figures for 1914, however, show a fall in the 
prices for all sizes of cod and haddock and a rise in the prices for 
large and small hake and for " sole," It is deduced from a combi- 
nation of the data presented by the two sets of tables that within the 
past few years the advance in the prices of cod and haddock as a 
whole has been slightly retarded by the large quantity of the smaller 
and cheaper fish brought in by the steam trawlers. 

It must be stated, however, that the otter trawl has not been used 
for a sufficient length of time in American waters, nor has it attained 
sufficient importance as compared with the line fisheries to have 
much influence on the trend of prices, but a study of the conditions 
in Europe throws some light on the subject. 

In England and Wales the otter trawl supplanted the beam trawl, 
to the practical exclusion of the latter, about 1898. Data dating 
from that time are available as showing the trend of prices of fish 
in the countries named, and these for several of the more important 
and characteristic species, and, combined, for all fish commonly 
taken in the trawls, are shown in the following table and diagram: 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY, 



53 



Average Prices of Fresh Fish Landed in England and Wales, 1898 to 3913, 

Inclusive. 





Cents per pound. 


Year. 


Cod. 


Haddock. 


Hake. 


Sole. 


Lemon 
. sole. 


Plaice. 


All fish. 


1898 


3.4 
3.5 
3.5 
3.7 
2.8 
2.9 
2.8 
3.1 
2.8 
3.0 
2.9 
2.1 
2.4 
2.4 
2.8 
3.1 


2.8 
3.0 
3.3 
3.5 
3.0 
2.4 
2.5 
3.0 
2.4 
2.5 
2.7 
2.6 
2.9 
2.9 
3.3 
4.1 


3.4 
3.3 
3.8 
3.5 
3.6 
3.2 
2.9 
3.2 
3.4 
3.3 
3.2 
3.1 
3.7 
3.7 
4.0 
5.1 


34.6 
34.9 
36.5 
35.6 
33.1 
31.9 
28.8 
28.5 
31.5 
33.6 
31.6 
31.8 
33.3 
31.6 
32.1 
33.7 




5.9 
5.9 
5.8 
5.3 
3.9 
4.6 
4.2 
4.5 
5.4 
4.7 
5.0 
4.2 
4.9 
4.9 
6.1 
7.0 


3 4 


1899 




3.5 

3 7 


1900 




1901 




3 6 


1902 


10.9 
11.9 
11.3 
11.1 
12.2 
12.1 
10.9 
9.6 
10.7 
10.9 
11.6 
12.2 


3 


1903 


3 


1904 


2.7 


1905 


3.1 


1906 


3.0 


1907 


2.7 


1908 


2.8 


1909 


2.6 


1910 


2.9 


1911 


2.7 


1912 


2.9 


1913 


3.0 








Diagram showing average prices of fresh fish per pound received by fishermen for certain 
fishes landed in England and Wales. 

From 1898 to about 1900 or 1901 there was a slight increase in 
the average price, but henceforth to 1911 there was a distinct and 
consistent downward trend in all species excepting the hake, for 



54 -OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

which there was a growing demand outrunning the supply. In 

1912, as is graphically shown in the diagram, there was a sharp 
upward turn in the price of all of the cheaper fish and a slight rise 
in the more expensive kinds, and this tendency was accentuated in 

1913. In the latter year, haddock, hake, and plaice were all con- 
siderably higher than in any year here recorded, lemon soles were 
higher than at any time since they have been separately listed, 
soles and cod were higher than since 1901, and demersal fish as 
a whole had returned in average price to the level of 1912. 

Therefore, while the average prices of the most important species 
of demersal fishes have been, in general, lower since the otter trawl 
supplanted previous methods of fishing, they were in 1913, the 
latest year of which we have record, higher than in 1898, with the. 
single exception of the cod; and in the case of the haddock, hake, 
and plaice, the increase has been large. 

It should be noted, also, that with respect to the cod there has 
been a decrease in the proportion of the larger and more valuable 
sizes since 1903, at least, and a corresponding increase in the small 
ones. In the plaice, the large size has diminished proportionately 
to both the medium and small. In respect to these species, there- 
fore, the increased marketings of the smaller and cheaper sizes has 
had a tendency to repress the upward trend of prices, which would 
have been more marked if the relations of the sizes in earlier years 
had been maintained. 

In regard to the haddock, which is the other most important 
trawl-caught fish, the situation is peculiar. The statistics show 
a material increase in the proportion of large fish landed, a slight 
decrease in the medium size, and a considerable decrease in the 
proportion of small. As the total catch of the species has decreased, 
it is believed that the condition shown by the statistics has been 
brought about by the transfer of fish formerly rated as medium to 
the category of large, and of small fish to the medium class. That 
this may be true is indicated further by the fact that while small 
haddock brought but 28 per cent of the price of large ones in 1906, 
they brought 75 per cent in 1912 and 80 per cent in 1913. In later 
years, all three classes have more nearly approached parity in price, 
presumably because, to some extent, they were more nearly ap- 
proaching parity in dimensions. It should be mentioned, however, 
that this evening up of the prices was doubtless due, in some degree, 
to the education of the public to consume smaller fish. Unfortu- 
nately, there have been no fixed or recorded standards of the sizes 
of fishes, and it is known that the standards vary as between the 
several ports and at the same port from time to time. In view 
of all considerations, however, we believe that the average size of 
all haddock taken has decreased, and that the prices would probably 



OTTER- TRAWL FISHERY. 55 

be higher than they are if the former standard had been main- 
tained. 

To summarize, while the otter trawl in England and Wales re- 
duced the cost of production of fish for a number of years after 
it became the predominant method of fishing, it did this to some 
extent by reducing the standard of sizes, and within the last two 
years prices have increased rapidly until they are higher than ever. 
To what extent the general increase in commodity prices has been 
responsible can not be determined. 

It may be noted that the increase in the price of fish in 1912 
and 1913 occurred in the face of the heaviest fisheries that Great 
Britain has ever known, in which, however, the species taken in 
the trawl fishery did not participate. 

J INSUFFICIENCY OF DATA. 

While certain provisional deductions are drawn from the pre- 
ceding analysis, the data are not regarded as sufficient to warrant 
.' an opinion respecting the effects of steam trawling on the fisheries. 
The period during which the American trawlers have operated has 
been too short, the trawlers engaged have been too few, and their 
catch, relatively to the catch by liners fishing on the same banks, 
has been too small to make it probable that they could have shown 
any drastic effect. Such fluctuations as have occurred during the 
time may have been merely the periodical changes common to all 
fisheries. For this reason it has been necessary to consider what is 
known of the fisery in the North Sea, the region in which it has 
reached its greatest development, and where it has been prosecuted 
for the longest time. The only data for a sufficiently long period 
available to the committee considering the subject are those con- 
tained in the Annual Reports on Sea Fisheries of England and 
Wales and the Annual Reports of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
These two countries have four-fifths of the North Sea trawlers, 
catch over two-thirds of all fishes taken in the North Sea and over 
three-fourths of all demersal fishes landed from that region, and, 
therefore, if an analysis of the statistics develops any pronounced 
facts, they can be assumed, with some safety, to be applicable to 
the North Sea fisheries as a whole. 

The statistical publications of The Permanent International Coun- 
cil for the Exploration of the Sea contain interesting detailed infor- 
mation respecting other countries in recent years, but as this can 
not well be correlated with the data from earlier periods it has not 
been used. Unfortunately, the same difficulty has been encountered 
in a measure in dealing with the English and Scotch statistics. The 
forms of the tables, the character of the data which they contain, 
the classification of the fishes, and the detail and particularity of the 
data have been changed from time to time. This has not only 



56 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

entailed great labor in an effort to arrive at the facts, but has neces- 
sitated some lack of uniformity in the consideration of the several 
periods, and has also, taken in connection with modifications in the 
methods of the fishery, dictated the selection of the particular periods 
considered. If the data for the entire series of years had been pre- 
sented in the form adopted since about 1906, many difficulties would 
have been removed, and the matter presented in this report would 
have been more explicit in some respects. While this report appears 
to consider and compare certain years only, largely for the reasons 
just explained, all English and Scotch reports since 1891 have been 
laboriously examined, and it is not believed that if other years were 
substituted there would be any material change in the apparent trend 
of the analysis. 

MINOR AMERICAN TRAWLNET FISHERIES. 

In considering the matter of the regulation of the otter-trawl 
fishery on the oceanic banks adjacent to the coast of New England, 
which is the prime purpose of this report, it is necessary to keep in 
view two minor fisheries prosecuted by the otter trawl or its equiv- 
alent concerning which there appears to be little or no complaint. 

CAPE COD FLOUNDER FISHERY. 

The first of these is the flounder fishery on the shores of Cape Cod. 
The fishery was established about 1895 or 1896, and 27 trawl nets 
were in use in 1898. In 1902 the number had increased to 65, and 
in 1908, the latest year for which we have information, there were 
126 ; it is understood that the number has increased since then. 

The vessels in the Cape Cod otter-trawl fleet, which is owned prin- 
cipally in Provincetown, Hyannis, and Falmouth, is composed of 
craft ranging from motor dories to auxiliary motor vessels of 25 
to 30 tons. Beam trawls were formerly employed, but they have 
been practically supplanted by otter trawls measuring from 30 to 
50 feet between the boards. The fishery is conducted in depths of 
10 fathoms, more or less, and as it is confined to Cape Cod Bay and 
Nantucket Sound, it is within territorial waters and, therefore, within 
the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Few fishes other than flounders 
are taken, the principal species being the winter flounder, locally 
known as the " black back," and the rusty dab, known to the fisher- 
men by the name of " fluke " and " yellow tail." . The present catch 
of these trawls is not known, but in 1898 they took 766,850 pounds, 
valued at $8,564; in 1902, 1,419,809 pounds, valued at $43,169; and 
in 1908, 2,893,000 pounds, yielding the fishermen $64,000. At Hy- 
annis and Falmouth the trawl fishery is of very recent development. 

Previous to 1908, from 6 to 12 small boats employing hand lines 
made an aggregate annual catch of 200 to 300 barrels. With the 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 57 

introduction of beam trawls, more than 125 men have gone into the 
business in Hyannis and Falmouth, and in the season of 1910 and 
1911 they caught and marketed 11,500 barrels (over 2,575,000 pounds) 
of winter flounder, receiving therefor the sum of $57,500. a As com- 
paratively few of these fishes are taken by other methods, the otter 
trawl in this case has added to the food supply a fishery product not 
otherwise largely available. 

SAN FRANCISCO PARANZELLA FISHERY. 

This fishery was introduced from the Mediterranean many years 
ago and is prosecuted by Italian fishermen employed principally, 
if not entirely, by two San Francisco companies. In 1908 there were 
20 of these nets in use at this port. The paranzella is essentially 
similar to an otter trawl, but the wings are kept extended not by 
otter boards but by warps or lines carried to tugs. Two vessels steer- 
ing on parallel courses are required to operate a net. The tugs are 
about 85 feet long and of 30 tons net register, with an engine of 
about 150 horsepower and a crew of 11 men. 

In 1908 the paranzella nets caught 4,722,000 pounds of fish valued 
at $87,000, of which 3,629,000 pounds valued at $68,000 were flounders 
and soles. No large numbers of fishes important to the line fisheries 
are taken. The fishing ground is a strip about 50 miles long and 5 
miles wide lying about 12 miles seaward from the Golden Gate. 
There is practically no other fishing on this ground, and, therefore, 
the paranzella nets do not interfere with other methods of fishing. 
About 15 per cent of the fish brought up in the net are immature. 
The fishery is conducted beyond the limits of territorial jurisdiction. 

DEMERSAL FISHERIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 

INTRODUCTION. 

In the preparation of this report every effort has been made to 
trace the history of the demersal fisheries of England and Wales, 
and especially of the North Sea, continuously from 1891 to the latest 
date for which data are available, but after careful consideration it 
has been found necessary to break the continuity of the discussion, 
because there appears no basis for harmonizing the possible analyses 
of the statistics prior to 1901 with those which can be made after 
1903. In other words, one basis of comparison is possible between 
the several years of the earlier period and another between those of 
the later series, but none whatever can be made between 1901 and 
1903, when there was an abrupt change in the manner in which the 
data were presented. 

"Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries, 1911, p. 50. 



58 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

From 1891 to 1901 there are no data relating to the North Sea 
specifically, but there is material for the consideration of the fishery 
out of certain east coast ports from which the operations in the 
North Sea were so overwhelmingly predominant to those carried 
on in other regions from the same ports that no violence is done to 
the validity of the discussion by considering that the fishery was 
conducted in the North Sea alone. These ports were North Shields, 
Sunderland, Hartlepool, Scarborough, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, and 
Kamsgate. Grimsby, Hull, and Boston were concerned largely or 
predominantly in the fisheries in other regions than the North Sea, 
which would introduce an important error, and they are therefore 
eliminated from consideration. Furthermore, during the period 
from 1891 to 1901, while the whole number of vessels is stated in the 
reports, there is no specific designation of the numbers of the respec- 
tive classes and types and the catch of each, and as the ratios of these 
to one another undoubtedly varied from year to year, and as the effi- 
ciencies of the different sorts and sizes of vessels and the kinds of 
fishes which they catch diverge widely no adequate measure of the 
intensity of the fisheries can be applied. 

From 1903 onward the data presented in the reports are much 
more specific, the catch from the North Sea is definitely given, as are 
also the number of landings of the different sorts of vessels, the 
catch of each, and, especially in the later years, the definite character 
of that catch. 

With the reservations and limitations imposed by the conditions 
thus summarized, it is possible, however, to make some use of the 
entire series of matter presented in the Annual Reports on Sea 
Fisheries of England and Wales. If, for instance, a certain tend- 
ency should be shown by a comparison of the several years of the 
earlier period inter se, and the same tendency should be shown by 
the different sort of analysis required by the character of the data 
available for the second period, the two presumably would be mutu- 
ally corroborative. It must be understood definitely and finally, 
however, that the specific data for one period must not be compared 
with those for the other. 

FISHING REGIONS. 

The fishing vessels of England and Wales fish in the following 
regions, which are specifically designated in the reports for recent 
years: White Sea, Iceland, Faroe, Rockall, North of Scotland, 
North Sea, English Channel, Irish Sea, Bristol Channel, Westward 
of Scotland, West of Ireland, Southward of Ireland, Biscay, and 
Portugal and Morocco. All of these regions are resorted to by Eng- 
lish steam trawlers, in some cases to the total or practical exclusion 
of other methods of fishing. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



59 



Prior to 1906 there is very little specific information furnished 
in respect to the fisheries on these grounds, but such data as are 
available indicate the increasing relative importance of the more 
distant regions as compared with the North Sea. The landings of 
fish at Grimsby, Hull, and Boston, the ports from which these fish- 
eries were predominant, as compared with the landings at six or 
seven other east coast ports where the North Sea fishery was para- 
mount, showed an increase from about 73 per cent of the total in 
1891 to about 82 per cent in 1901. For 1903 and later years there 
are specific data for the " North Sea " and " Regions beyond the 
North Sea " — that is, all others — and the following table shows the 
proportions of all demersal fish taken by English vessels in these 
two, respectively : 

Percentile Peopoetions of Demebsal Fishes Caught in the Nobth Sea and 
in Regions Beyond the Nobth Sea, Respectively, by English and Welsh 
Vessels. 



Year. 


North Sea. 


Beyond 
North Sea. 


1903 


79.4 
54.7 
43.2 


20.6 
45.3 

56.8 


1906 


1912 





These complete statistics confirm the deductions from the earlier 
partial data, that the North Sea has rapidly lost in relative impor- 
tance to the whole demersal fishery, and that it has now lost its for- 
mer dominance. 

A discussion of all of the 14 regions previously named is not 
important to the purposes of this report. The North Sea, the seat 
of the oldest, most important, and most dominant otter-trawl fishery, 
furnishes the data of most value, and that region is, therefore, con- 
sidered at the greatest length, but for purposes of comparison, and 
as a check on the deductions made, it is desirable to analyze the 
information obtainable respecting certain other regions resembling 
it in the character of the fishery and the fishes caught. The most 
suitable for this purpose appear to be Iceland, the White Sea, and 
Faroe. The areas of the fishing grounds of the four regions, accord- 
ing to the best information obtainable, are as follows : 

Square miles. 

North Sea 152, 500 

Iceland 36, 600 

White Sea 128, 900 

Faroe 4, 950 

These areas, certainly in the case of the North Sea and probably 
in other cases, are the totals of the waters to which the fishermen 
resort, and it is at least probable that the whole is not equally pro- 
ductive and that some parts may be practically or completely barren 



60 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



of commercial fishes. Certainly, some parts of the North Sea pro- 
duce comparatively little, some produce practically nothing but 
small fish, while others, e. g., Dogger Bank, are highly productive. 
Probably all of these regions show differences in their several parts, 
and the product differs with the physical characters. The North 
Sea south of a line from Flamborough Head to about the northwest 
point of Denmark is comparatively shallow and is the important 
plaice region. In this area small plaice abound near the shores and 
particularly in the southeast portion on the Dutch and German 
coasts, while the larger fish frequent the offshore banks. North of 
the line described and along the Norwegian shore the sea is deeper 
and the haddock becomes of relatively greater importance. 

The nature of the fisheries in the North Sea, White Sea, Iceland, ■ 
and Faroe, and their statistical histories, so far as it is possible to 
trace them from the information available, are shoAvn in the follow- 
ing pages. 

FISHERIES OF THE NORTH SEA. 

First-class vessels. — "With the exception of a wholly negligible 
quantity, all of the demersal fishes taken in the North Sea by English 
vessels are landed on the east coast. The following table makes com- 
parison of the landings of demersal fishes as a whole, and of round 
fishes and flat fishes, respectively, at east coast ports, the data until 
1901 being the total for certain ports and after 1903 for all ports, for 
reasons previously explained. As practically the entire catch is made 
by first-class vessels, and as these are the only vessels for which more 
detailed data presented later are available, they alone will be con- 
sidered. 



Total Landings of Demebsal Fishes, Round Fishes, and Flat Fishes, from 
the North Sea on the East Coast of England in the First and Last 
Years of Certain Periods. 



Classes and periods. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight) during— 


Gain or loss. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Demersal fishes: 

1891-1 898 


570, 818 

508,940 

5,116,979 

4,281,150 

304,095 

247, 109 

3,492,414 

3,158,062 

266, 723 

261,831 

1,492,696 

970, 509 


508,940 

585,436 

4,281,150 

3,675,862 

247, 109 

264,470 

3,158,062 

2,605,812 

261,831 
320,966 
970,509 
849,003 


- 61,875 
+ 76,496 
-835,829 
-605,288 

- 56,986 
+ 17,361 
-334,352 
-552,250 

- 44,892 
+ 59,135 
-522, 187 
-121,506 


—10 


1898-1901 


+15 


1903-1906 


—16 


1906-1912 


—14 


Round fishes: 

1891-1898 


— 18 


1898-1901 


+ 7 


1903-1906 


— 9 


1906-1912 


—17 


Flat fishes: 

1891-1898 


— 1 


1898-1901 


+22 


1903-1906 


—34 


1906-1912 


—12 







Note.— The data for 1891 to 1901, inclusive, are for certain ports only, enumerated in the text. 



OTTER-TKAWL FISHERY. 



61 



It is apparent from the foregoing that from 1891 to 1901 the 
catch of demersal fishes fluctuated, but showed a slight net gain 
for the period, and that while the fluctuation was exhibited in the 
catch of both round fishes and flat fishes, the former registered a 
net loss and the latter a net gain for the whole period. The period 
from 1903 to 1912 was characterized by consistent losses in both 
round fishes and flat fishes, but more especially in the latter, which 
of course resulted in a heavy loss in demersal fishes as a whole. 

The catches of cod, haddock, and plaice combined have averaged 
from 87 per cent of the demersal fishes taken in the North Sea to 
about 72 per cent; cod and haddock constitute about 90 per cent of 
the round fishes, and plaice from about 60 to 75 per cent of the 
flat fishes. The following table compares the catches of these three 
species in the respective years considered in this report : 

Total Landings of the Three Important Demersal Fishes from the North 
Sea on the East Coast of England in the First and Last Years of Cer- 
tain Periods. 



Species and periods. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight) during— 


Gain or loss. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Cod: 

1891-1898 


91,987 
94,906 

783,782 
740,062 

185, 877 

125,457 

2,310,340 

2,046,204 

200,475 
207,933 
956,358 

570, 862 


94,906 
108, 722 
740,062 
825, 636 

125, 457 

124, 102 

2,040,204 

1,293,080 

207,933 
270,635 
570, 862 
527, 0S8 


+ 2,919 
+ 13,816 

- 43,720 
+ 85,574 

- 60,420 

- 1,355 
-264, 136 
-753,124 

+ 7,458 
+ 62,702 
-385, 496 

- 43,774 


+ 3 


189S-1901 


+ 14 


1903-1906 


— 5 


1906-1912 


+ 11 


Haddock: 

1891-1898 


—32 


1898-1901 


— 1 


1903-1906 


— 11 


1906-1912 


—36 


Plaice: 

1891-1898 


+ 3 


1898-1901 


+30 


1903-1906 


—40 


1906-1912 


— 7 







Note. — The data from 1891 to 1901, inclusive, are for certain ports only, enumerated in the text. 



From this table it appears that the total catch of cod increased 
during the period from 1891 to 1901, but fluctuated, although regis- 
tering a small net gain from 1903 to 1912 ; the total yield of haddock 
from the North Sea decreased consistently and heavily in both pe- 
riods, while the plaice gained throughout the first period and lost 
heavily in the second. 

First-class steam trawlers. — The landings of fish by steam trawlers 
prior to 1903 are not separately given, but it can be safely assumed 
on the authority of a statement made in the report for 1901 that the 
vast majority of the fish listed in the preceding tables for the years 



62 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



'he 
)re 



1891 to 1901, inclusive, were taken by this class of vessels. The 
trend of the catch of demersal fishes by steam trawlers is therefore 
indicated by that of first-class vessels as a whole. After 1902 the 
information is specifically given and is shown in the following table : 

Quantities of Demersal Fishes, Classes, and Ceetain Kinds from the 
North Sea Landed on the East Coast of England by Pirst-Class Steam 
Trawlers in the First and Last Tears of Certain Periods. 



Classes, species, and periods. 



Catch (hundredweight) 
during — 


Gain 01 


loss. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


4,776,081 
3,983,020 


3,983,020 
3,361,391 


-793,061 
-621,629 


-16 
-15 


3,382,316 
3,074,932 


3,074,932 
2,464,094 


-307,382 
-610,838 


- 9 
-19 


1,264,122 
761,393 


761,393 
634, 157 


-502,729 
-127,236 


-39 
-16 


729,311 
705,306 


705,306 
786,481 


- 24,005 
+ 82,175 


- 3 
+11 


2,301,505 
2,034,882 


2,034,882 
1,292,743 


-266,623 
-742, 139 


-11 
-36 


811,637 
440,920 


440,920 
386,690 


-370,717 
- 54,230 


-45 
-11 



Demersal fishes: 

1903-1906.... 

1906-1912.... 
Round fishes: 

1903-1906.... 

1906-1912.... 
Flat fishes: 

1903-1906... 

1906-1912... 
Cod: 

1903-1906... 

1906-1912... 
Haddock: 

1903-1906... 

1906-1912... 
Plaice: 

1903-1906... 

1906-1912... 



Note.— The quantities for 1906 are the landing in England and Wales, but almost if not quite all were 
landed on the east coast. 

As the cod, haddock, and plaice are the important species, the 
foregoing data dealing with single years have been checked by 
comparing the catches of these species for three overlapping four- 
year periods between 1903 and 1912, inclusive. It will be seen that 
the results are essentially similar, as indicated by the trend of the 
total catches of these species by trawlers in the North Sea. 

Percentile Ratios of Catches of Cod, Haddock, and Plaice by Steam 
Trawlers in the North Sea, 1906 to 1909, and 1909 to 1912, Compared 
with 1903 to 1906. 



Four-year periods. 


Percentile ratios. 


Cod. 


Haddock. 


Plaice. 


1903-1906 


100 
105 
122 


100 
93 

68 


100 
73 
64 


1906-1909 


1909-1912 





It appears that the catch of demersal fish in the North Sea by 
steam trawlers decreased from 1891 to 1898 and increased sufficiently 
from 1898 to 1901 to show a small net increase for the entire period, 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 63 

and that round fishes and flat fishes each followed the same general 
trend. From 1903 to 1906 and again from 1906 to 1912 steam trawl- 
caught demersal fishes as a whole, as well as both round fishes and 
flat fishes, showed heavy decreases, the total percentile falling off 
in the flat fishes being the greatest. 

Steam trawl-caught cod gained in total catch from 1891 to 1898 
and from 1898 to 1901 but exhibited a falling off of about 3 per cent 
from 1903 to 1906. From 1906 to 1912, however, there was a mate- 
rial increase, and it is apparent that the total catch of the species by 
trawlers increased more or less continuously from 1891 to 1912. 
Steam trawl-caught haddock on the contrary declined in total 
throughout the entire time, and in the two periods, from 1891 to 
1901, and from 1903 to 1912, the decreases amounted to 33 per cent 
and 44 per cent, respectively. In the case of the plaice there was an 
increase in the catch between both 1891 and 1898 and 1898 and 1901, 
the aggregate of the two amounting to 35 per cent of the catch of 
1891. In both 1906 and 1912 the catch was much less than in 1913, 
and the decrease in the entire period was nearly 53 per cent. For the 
entire term from 1891 to 1912 there was, therefore, an increase in the 
total catch of cod by steam trawlers and a decrease in the catches 
of haddock and plaice, especially the former. 

The foregoing discussion is concerned with the total catches of the 
several classes, categories, and kinds of fishes; but while the indi- 
cated changes were taking place there were synchronous but not 
necessarily parallel changes in the composition and fishing power of 
the fleet and variations in the intensity of the fishery conducted by 
it. To eliminate these variables as far as possible the catch may be 
reduced to the average per vessel, the average per voyage, or the 
average per day's absence from port. The first is objectionable in 
that it does not eliminate the effects of variations in the number of 
vessels tied up for variable' and undeterminable periods, and we have, 
therefore, confined ourselves to the consideration of the other two. 

Unfortunately these methods of analysis can not be applied at all 
prior to 1903, as the data are not furnished in the reports, and for 
1903 and the following years the average catch per day's absence is 
stated for a part only of the total catch (that not landed in London 
where most of the fish are brought in by carriers and not by the 
fishermen). The catch per voyage is not given at all, although the 
average duration of the voyages is given for all ports excluding 
London. 

As this information applies to the major portion of the fishing 
operations, it may be assumed that it is reasonably applicable to all, 

86066°— 15 5 



64 



OTTER- TRAWL FISHERY. 



and, following a suggestion in the report of 1906, a we have calculated 
from these data the hypothetical number of voyages and days' 
absence required to catch all of the fish taken by English trawlers 
in the North Sea. The following tables are based on the factors so 
derived. 

The total number of steam trawlers in England and Wales does 
not appear ascertainable for 1891 and 1898, but there were about 500 
in 1893 and 1,116 in 1899. In 1901 there were 1,096; in 1903, 1,135; 
in 1906, 1,254; and in 1912, 1,341. While this rapid increase in the 
fleet was occurring there was a continuous growth in the size of the 
vessels from an average of 41 tons in 1893 to 72 tons in 1912. There 
was, therefore, not only a heavy increase in the size of the fleet, but 
also in the fishing power and efficiency of its units. Not all of these 
vessels fished in the North Sea, and some of them fished both there 
and elsewhere. We have no data as to the number fishing there 
in any year, but for 1903 and later years there is available the more 
specific information concerning the number of landings and the 
number of voyages referred to in the preceding paragraphs. 

Tot at. Number of Days' Absence and the Total Number of Voyages (Land- 
ings) by Steam Trawlers Fishing in the North Sea from Ports on the 
East Coast of England. 



Periods. 



Number during- 



First year. Last year, 



Loss. 



Number. Per cent 



Total days' absence: 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

Number of voyages (landings) 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 



256,228 
225, 923 

36, 852 
36,474 



225,923 
213, 286 

36,474 
36, 118 



30,305 
12,637 

378 
356 



11.8 
5.5 



1.0 



The number of days' absence from port has decreased, while the 
number of landings has remained practically stationary. The av- 
erage length of voyages, therefore, has decreased from 6.95 days in 
1903 to 5.73 days in 1912, a development probably due to the in- 
creased steaming and fishing gear and improvement in the general 
efficiency of the vessels and their gear. That the number of land- 
ings has not increased with the increase in the number and power 
of English trawlers indicates that to a relatively greater extent than 
formerly the vessels are fishing in regions other than the North Sea, 
a fact known from other sources of information. 



• Annual Report Sea Fisheries, England and Wales, 1906, pp. viii-xi. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



65 



Avebage Catch of Steam Trawlers Fishing in the North Sea from the 
East Coast of England Per Day of Absence During the First and Last 
Years of Certain Periods. 



Species and periods. 


Catch (hundredweight) 
during — 


Gain or loss. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Demersal fishes: 

1903-1906 


18.64 
17.63 

3.1 
3.5 

8.3 

7.8 

3.1 
3.1 


17.63 
15.76 

3.5 
4.45 

7.8 
4.8 

2.1 
2.34 


-1.0 
-1.9 

+0.4 
+0.9 

-0.5 
-3.0 

-1.0 
+0.2 


— 5 


1906-1912 


-10 


Cod: 

1903-1906 


+12 


1906-1912 


+27 


Haddock: 

1903-1906 


— 6 


1906-1912 


-38 


Plaice: 

1903-1906 


-30 


1906-1912 


+11 







Average Catch Per Voyage of Steam Trawlers Fishing in the North Sea 
from the East Coast of England During the First and Last Years of 
Certain Periods. 



Species and periods. 


Catch (hundredweight) 
during— 


Gain oi 


loss. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Demersal fishes: 

1903-1906 


129.6 
109.2 

21.7 
21.9 

57.9 
48.5 

21.2 
13.3 


109.2 
90.3 

21.9 

25.8 

48.5 
27.4 

13.3 
13.4 


-20.4 
-18.9 

+ 0.2 
+ 3.9 

- 9.4 
-21.1 

- 7.9 
+ 0.1 


-15 


1906-1912 


-17 


Cod: 

1903-1906 


+ 9 


1906-1912 


+17 


Haddock: 

1903-1906 


-16 


1906-1912 


-43 


Plaice: 

1903-1906 


-32 


1906-1912 


+ 0.7 







These two tables show the same facts, namely, that on whichever 
basis computed, the average catch of demersal fishes by steam trawl- 
ers has decreased from 1903 to 1912, the average catch of cod has 
materially increased, while the yields of haddock and plaice per 
unit of effort have decreased, the former over 53 per cent and 
the latter over 37 per cent. 

A frequent manifestation of the results of overfishing is the per- 
manent relative increase in the catch of small fishes, particularly 
if the absolute quantity of the catch of large fishes or of the species 
as a whole remains stationary or diminishes. 

As a fishery increases, the total quantities of the catch will also 
increase, while the ratios existing between the catch of the various 
sizes will be maintained provided that the size and composition of 
the fish schools remain unimpaired. When overfishing occurs, how- 
ever, there is a tendency to change the composition of the schools 



66 



OTTEIMKAWL FISHERY. 



even though the aggregate number of individuals composing them 
may not be reduced. The larger fish are taken in at least the full 
proportion in which they exist in the schools and at the same time 
increased numbers of the immediately smaller fishes are taken and 
fewer are left to develop into large, and the numbers of the latter 
are gradually reduced both absolutely and relatively. We have 
a particularly well-known and conspicuous example of this in the 
lobster fisheries of New England. 

The following table analyzes the catches of cod, haddock, and 
plaice in respect to their relative size components : 

Percentile Ratios of Each Size of Cod, Haddock, and Plaice to Total of 
all Sizes Landed in England and Wales from the North Sea by First- 
Class Steam Trawlers in 4-Year Periods, 1903 to 1912, Inclusive. 



Species and sizes. 


Percentile ratios to all sizes.* 


1903-1906 


1906-191)9 


1909-1912 


Cod: 


43 
30 
26 

29 
28 
43 

24 
31 
45 


42 
25 
33 

30 
15 

55 

25 
30 
45 


33 


Medium 


25 


Small 


42 


Haddock: 


39 


Medium 


13 


Small 


48 


Plaice: 

Large 


21 


Medium 


32 


Small 


47 







a In 1903 the data of landings on the east coast only are available, but the landings elsewhere were 
negligible. 

It will be seen that the cod shows a material reduction in the 
ratio of large fish to the total, a smaller reduction in the medium 
fish, and a heavy increase in the ratio of small. The plaice exhibits 
a slight reduction in the relative catch of large fish, and a corre- 
sponding increase in the small, the proportion of medium fish re- 
maining about constant. 

The haddock, on the contrary, shows an increase in the ratio of 
both large and small at the expense of the medium size. So far as 
the large fish are concerned, we believe the actual facts to be other 
than as shown, and that the statistical increase has been due to the 
transfer of what were formerly classed as medium fish to the cate- 
gory of large. We know from official statements that there are no 
definite standards of size, and that they vary from time to time. 
In the face of the relatively high price of the large haddock, the 
absolute great increase in that price in the last 10 years, and the ab- 
solute decrease in the catch of that size, it appears to us to be more 
than probable that the standards have been lowered, and that all 
categories are as an average smaller fish than formerly. Even if 
this be the case, the combined catch of large and medium haddock 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



67 



were somewhat smaller in the quadrennial period 1909-1912 and 
much smaller in 1906-1909 than it was in 1903-1906. 

First-class sailing trawlers. — The number of first-class sailing 
trawlers operating in the North Sea is not definitely determinable, 
but it is small relatively to the steam trawlers. In all England there 
was a heavy decrease in this class of vessels from 1891 to 1901, 
but since then the number has been practically uniform, and it may 
be assumed that the vessels in the North Sea followed the same 
course. Specific data of the catch of the sailing trawlers are avail- 
able after 1902 and are shown in the following tables, which are 
presented with nothing more than the comment that the operations 
of these vessels, so far as the catch is concerned, are of such rela- 
tively insignificant proportions that they are not worthy of con- 
sideration excepting to show that they are insignificant. 

Quantities of Demebsal Fishes, Classes, and Ceetain Kinds from the Noeth 
Sea Landed on the East Coast of England by Fibst-Class Sailing Tbawl- 
ebs in the flbst and last yeabs of ceetain pebiods. 



Classes, species, and periods. 


Catch (hundredweight) 
during— 


Gain or loss. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Demersal fishes: 

1903-1906 


277,530 
262,504 

40,004 
50,531 

217,502 
206,975 

22,953 
17,122 

1,059 
1,447 

144,667 
129,956 


262,504 
279,055 

50,531 
55,469 

206,975 
208,072 

17, 122 
14,500 

1,447 


129, 956 
140,300 


-15,026 
+16,551 

+10,527 
+ 4,938 

-10,527 
+ 2,097 

- 5,831 

- 2,622 

+ 386 


— 5 


1906-1912 


+ 6 


Round fishes: 

1903-1906 


+26 


1906-1912 


+ 9 


Flat fishes: 

1903-1906 


— 4 


1906-1912 


+ 1 


Cod: 

1903-1906 


—25 


1906-1912 


—15 


Haddock: 

1903-1906 


+36 


1906-1912 , 




Plaice: 

1903-1906 


-14,711 
+20, 344 


-10 


1906-1912 


+15 







Avebage Catch Peb Day's Absence of Sailing Tbawlebs in the Nobth Sea 
feom the East Coast of England Dtjbing the Fibst and Last Yeaes of 
Ceetain Pebiods. 



Species and periods. 



Quantity (hundred- 
weight) during — 



First year. Last year 



Gain or loss. 



Hundred- 
weight. 



Per cent. 



Demersal fishes: 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

Cod: 1906-1912 

Haddock: 1906-1912 

Plaice: 1906-1912... 



3.11 

2.45 

.16 

.01 

1.22 



2.45 

3.08 

.16 

.00 

1.55 



-21 

+25 



+ .33 



+27 



68 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



Steam liners. — Steam liners, still more than sailing trawlers, bear 
but an insignificant part in the North Sea fisheries of England, as 
may be seen by the following tables : 

Quantities of Demersal Fishes, Classes, and Certain Kinds from the North 
Sea Landed on the East Coast of England by First-Class Steam Liners 
in the First and Last Years of Certain Periods. 



Classes, species, and periods. 


Catch (hundredweight) 
during— 


Gain or loss. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Demersal fishes: 

1903-1906 


33, 338 
a 9, 740 

21,898 
7,973 

10,197 
1,688 

12,451 
5,555 

2,782 


a 9, 740 
20,678 

7,973 
17,394 

1,688 
3,265 

5,555 
15,031 


-23,648 
+10,938 

-13,925 
+ 9,421 

- 8,509 
+ 1,577 

- 6,896 
+ 9,476 


— 70 


1906-1912 


+112 
— 63 


Round fishes: 

1903-1906 


1906-1912 


+118 


Flat fishes: 

1903-1906 


— 83 


1906-1912 


+ 93 


Cod: 

1903-1906 


— 55 


1906-1912 


+170 


Haddock: 

1903-1908 




1906-1912 


46 






Plaice: 

1903-1906 


54 






1906-1912 










1 


1 



a Landed in all England and Wales, but probably all on east coast. 

Average Catch Per Day's Absence of Steam Liners Fishing in the North 
Sea from the East Coast of England in 1906 and 1912, Respectively. 



Species. 


Catch (hundredweight) 
during— 


Gain. 


1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Demersal fishes 


14.78 
8.43 


18.28 

11.32 

.04 


3.50 
2.89 


23 


Cod 


34 


Haddock 




Plaice 



















SUMMARY OF CONDITIONS IN THE NORTH SEA. 

Summarizing the conditions of the fisheries of the North Sea, as 
shown by the examination of the English official reports, we find that 
since 1891 there has been a material decrease in the quantities of 
fishes caught, and that both round fishes and flat fishes have partici- 
pated in this decrease. During this time there has been considerable 
change in the strength and composition of the fishing fleet, the most 
important of which was the substitution of the otter trawl for the 
beam trawl, which became practically complete as early as 1898. 
Since that time, at least, this apparatus has been the predominant 
means by which the fishery was conducted, and it catches about 90 
per cent of the fish taken by all means by English vessels, and the 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 69 

English trawlers take about 45 per cent of the demersal fish, and 
rather more than that portion of cod, haddock, and plaice taken by 
all nations in the North Sea. 

Exact data respecting the activities and catch of this fleet, which 
are available since 1902 only, show that the average catch of demersal 
fishes, per voyage and per day's absence from port, has materially 
decreased between 1903 and 1912, and this decrease has occurred in 
both round fishes and flat fishes. There is, therefore, presumptive 
evidence of the depletion of the fisheries as a whole. 

Cod, haddock, and plaice combined constitute about 80 per cent 
of the demersal fishes caught by English vessels in the North Sea, 
and they represent an almost equal proportion of the catch by all 
countries in those waters. Of these we find that the cod shows an 
increase in the total catch and in the averages per voyage and per 
day's absence, the only sign of depletion appearing in the decrease in 
the proportional catch of large fishes and the increase in the pro- 
portion of small ones. 

The haddock shows indications of depletion in the heavy and con- 
sistent decrease in the total catch, p and in the average catches per 
voyage and per day's absence. Statistically it shows but slight indi- 
cations of overfishing in the ratios of the several sizes, but we believe 
this indication would be more pronounced if the standards of sizes 
had been maintained on equality with those of earlier years. The 
plaice, by every method of examination which the data will permit 
us to apply, "shows unmistakable signs of depletion. 

We believe, therefore, that there is overfishing in respect to both 
haddock and plaice, and that in consideration of its overwhelming 
predominance the otter trawl is responsible. The cod, being a rapa- 
cious, more nomadic fish, and less distinctly a bottom dweller, is not 
affected. 

ICELAND. 

The importance of the English steam-trawl fisheries in Iceland 
was second to that of the North Sea only in both 1906 and 1912, 
and the steam-line fishery in the region held first place in both years 
among the 14 regions enumerated in the reports. Practically no 
other method of fishing is pursued there by English vessels, and 
the trawlers took about 93 per cent of the total catch in 1906 and 
about 90 per cent in 1912. 

In 1906 there were 1,579 and in 1912 there were 1,430 voyages by 
trawlers, a decrease of about 9 per cent, and the total number of days' 
absences decreased 11 per cent, from 35,039 days in 1906 to 30,919 
days in 1912. The average duration of the voyages was nearly equal 
in the two years, being 22.2 days in 1906 and 21.6 days in 1912. 
The total catch of the trawlers and the average catch per trip are 
shown in the following tables: 



70 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



Total Catch of Demersal Pishes, Classes, and Important Kinds by English 
Steam Trawlers Fishing in Iceland Waters in 1906 and 1912. 





Classes and species. 


Quantity 
(hundredweight) . 


Gain or loss. 




1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 




1,549,502 
1,266,248 
237,431 
729,322 
414,241 
186,382 


1,439,774 
1,233,396 
173,323 
800,992 
310,136 
121,264 


- 108,728 

- 32,852 

- 64,108 
+ 71,670 

- 104,105 

- 65,118 


— 7 




- 2 




— 27 


Cod 


+ 9 




- 25 




- 34 






Average Catc 


h per Landing by English Steam Trawlers Fishing in Iceland 
Waters in 1906 and 1912. 




Species. 


Quantity 
Oiundredweight). 


Gain or loss. 




1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 




1,051 
461 
261 
118 


1,120 

560 

216 

84 


+ 69 

+ 99 

- 45 

- 34 


+ 6 


Cod --- 


+ 21 




• 


- 17 




- 28 







The table of total quantities shows that there was a decrease 
in all fishes excepting the cod, but as is seen from a comparison 
of the table of average catches per voyage this was in part due 
to a decrease in fishing activity. Nevertheless, while there appears 
to have been an increase in the cod, as measured by the catch per 
unit of effort, there were equally considerable decreases in the had- 
dock and plaice as measured by the same standard. In 1913 there 
was a further development of these tendencies, and while there was 
a heavy increase in the total catch of cod, due to increased fishing 
activity, there were material decreases in the total catches of had- 
dock and plaice, and very heavy decreases in the average quantities 
per voyage, especially in plaice, of which but half as many were 
taken as in 1906. 

Percentile Proportions of Trade Sizes to Total of all Sizes of Cod, Haddock, 
and Plaice from Iceland, Landed by Steam Trawlers in Quadrennial 
Periods Between 1906 and 1912. 



Species and sizes. 


1906-1909 


1909-1912 


Cod: 


67.3 
19.4 
12.7 

69.3 

27.6 
3.0 

53.9 
43.8 
2.2 


57.3 




21.9 


Small 


20.7 


Haddock: 


60.3 




37 7 


Small 


1.9 


Plaice: 

Large 


36 6 




57 7 


Small 


6.6 





OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



71 



As shown in the foregoing table, the increase in the cod catch 
has been due to some extent to an increase in the relative quantities 
of the smaller sizes landed, and the decrease in the quantities of 
haddock and plaice, especially the latter, has occurred notwithstand- 
ing the marketing of an increased proportion of the small and 
medium sizes. 

The statistical facts of this fishery, so far as they may be given 
weight on account of the brief period covered, point rather strongly 
to the possible depletion of the plaice fishery and to a less extent 
of the fishery for haddock. The cod, as appears to be the case 
everywhere, is unaffected. 

In 1906 there were 346 voyages by English steam liners, aggre- 
gating 7,526 days of absence per port, and of an average duration 
of 21.7 days. In 1912 there were 521 voyages, entailing an aggre- 
gate absence of 10,268 days, and the average voyage occupied 19.6 
days. The total catch of these steam liners and the average catch 
per voyage are shown in the following tables : 

Total Catch of Demersal Fishes, Classes, and Important Kinds by English 
Steam Liners Fishing in Iceland Waters in 1906 and 1912. 



Classes and species. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight). 


Gain or loss. 


1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 




111,248 
20,826 
83,847 
13,954 
175 


162, 241 
82,859 
74,300 
58,388 
659 


+50, 993 
+62, 033 
- 9,547 
+44, 434 
+ 484 


+ 45 
+297 




Flat fishes 


— 11 


Cod 


+318 


Haddock 


+276 







Average Catch per Landing by English Steam Liners Fishing in Iceland 
Waters in 1906 and 1912. 



Species. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight). 


Gain or loss. 


1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 




321 
40 
.5 


311 

112 

1 


-10 
+72 
+ .5 


— 3 


Cod 


+180 




+100 







It will be seen that no plaice were taken in these fisheries, and the 
catch of haddock, the other species of particular significance in this 
inquiry, was negligible. The decrease in flat fishes is due to the 
halibut, the principal species of that class taken by the liners. There 



72 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



was a heavy increase in cod. Very few small fishes of any kind are 
taken on lines, as will appear from the following table: 

Proportions of Trade Sizes to Total Catch of all Sizes of Cod and Haddock 
from Iceland Landed by English Steam Liners in Quadrennial Periods 
Between 1906 and 1912. 



Species and sizes. 


1906-1909 


1909-1912 


Cod: 


99.6 
.31 

92.1 

7.8 


97.7 




2.1 


Haddock: 


100.0 











WHITE SEA. 

The fishery by English vessels in this region was conducted solely 
by steam trawlers, and, considering steam vessels only, it ranked 
eighth in catch among the 14 enumerated regions in 1906 and sixth 
in 1912. In 1906 there were 41 voyages to the White Sea, aggregat- 
ing 1,129 days, and with an average length of 27.5 days. In 1912 
there were 212 voyages, an increase of 419 per cent, aggregating 
5,490 days of absence from port, an increase of 386 per cent, and 
having an average length of 25.9 days, a slight decrease. There are 
no specific data available for years prior to 1906. The total catch of 
fishes, by classes and important species, is shown in the following 
table : 

Total Catch of Demersal Fishes, Classes, and Important Kinds by English 
Steam-Trawl Vessels Fishing in the White Sea in 1906 and 1912. 



Classes and species. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight). 


Gain. 


1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 




45,330 
6,083 

39,210 
1,089 
4,480 

39, 176 


210,636 
95,813 

113,945 
52, 137 
40, 297 

110,848 


165,306 
89,730 
74,735 
51,046 
35,917 
71,672 


364 




1,310 
190 


Flat fishes 


Cod 


4,686 




799 




182 







This fishery was originally undertaken primarily for plaice, which 
constituted over 86 per cent of the total catch in 1906, but while the 
quantity of this species had increased about 183 per cent in 1912 the 
catch of cod and haddock had increased more rapidly and plaice 
comprised less than 53 per cent of the combined catch of the three 
species in 1912. To eliminate the statistical effects of the increase in 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



73 



fishing activity and reduce the catches to the basis of units of effort 
expended in making them, the following table is presented: 

Average Catches per Landing by English Steam-Trawl Vessels Pishing in 
the White Sea in 1906 and 1912. 



Species. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight). 


Gain or loss. 


1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 




1,105 

27 

109 

956 


993 
246 
190 
523 


-112 
+219 
+ 81 
-433 


10 


Cod 


+811 

+ 74 

45 


Haddock 









It will be seen from this that the average catch of demersal fishes 
per voyage has decreased slightly, and of plaice, the principal species 
caught, heavily between 1906 and 1912. The average catches of 
cod and haddock have each increased, the former enormously. As 
the plaice is the highest-priced and most desirable fish of the three, 
the inference is that there was a deficiency of that species, which 
was made good in some measure by increased attention to the cod 
and haddock. This tendency appears to have been reasonably con- 
tinuous throughout the period discussed. In 1913 there were but 
108 voyages to the White Sea, and the average catch of the cod 
and plaice per voyage was about the same as in the preceding year, 
but there was a further increase of about 50 per cent in the average 
catch of haddock. 

To determine whether there is any other indication of a deple- 
tion of the supply of these fishes, the following analysis has been 
made of the catch in respect to its composition by sizes during the 
two overlapping four-year periods for which information is available : 

Proportion of the Different Trade Sizes of Cod, Haddock, and Plaice to 
the Whole of the Three Combined, in Quadrennial Periods Between 
1906 and 1912. 



Species and sizes. 


1906-1909 


1909-1912 


Cod: 


Per cent. 
11.8 
22.9 
65.1 

89.3 

10.5 

.1 

28.5 
71.3 


Per cent. 
9 




55 1 


Small 


35 8 


Haddock: 


35 




64.8 


Small 


.1 


Plaice: 


30.6 




69.2 













This throws but little light on the subject other than to show that 
the increases in the catches of cod and haddock were mainly in 



74 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



the medium sizes, and to warrant the inference that probably only 
the larger haddock were saved in the earlier period when the species 
was less energetically sought. The large plaice have slightly more 
than maintained their proportional importance. 

Considering the facts developed and the brevity of the period 
which it is possible to discuss, we can draw no conclusions except- 
ing the dubious one that the supply of plaice in the White Sea may 
not be sufficient for the maintenance of the fishery for that species 
on the scale which it has attained. 



FAROE. 

This region, which is the smallest of the four considered in this 
discussion of the English fisheries, lies about midway between the 
North Sea and Iceland. Its product, which is about 7 per cent of 
all demersal fishes landed in England, is greater than that of the 
White Sea but less than that of Iceland. 

About 85 to 90 per cent of the fishes in this region are taken by 
steam trawlers, which made 1,085 trips in 1906 and 1,303 in 1912. 
The total number of days' absence was 17,215 in 1906 and 18,445 in 
1912, the average duration of the voyages in the two years being 
15.8 and 14 days respectively. The total catch and the average per 
voyage are shown in the following tables : 

Total Catch of Demersal Fishes, Classes, and Important Kinds by English 
Steam Trawlers Fishing on Faroe Grounds, 1906 and 1912. 



Classes and species. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight). 


Gain or loss. 


1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent 




536, 947 
470, 675 
30, 231 
245,364 
190, 740 
4,346 


584,484 
539, 775 
20, 155 
341,704 
147,525 
989 


+47,537 
+69,100 
-10,076 
+96,340 
-43,215 
- 3,357 


+ 8 




+14 




-33 




+39 




-22 




-77 







Average Catch per Landing by English Steam Trawlers Fishing on Faroe 

Grounds, 1906 and 1912. 



Classes and species. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight). 


Gain or loss. 


1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 




495 
434 
28 
226 
176 
4 


449 
414 
15 
262 
113 
.8 


-46 

-:o 

-13 
+36 
-63 
- 3.2 


- 9 




- 5 




-44 


Cod 


+15 




-35 




-80 







OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



75 



The total catch of demersal fishes showed a slight improvement, 
but this was due to an increase in the intensity of the fishery. The 
quantity of plaice taken was insignificant, the principal flat fishes 
of the region being halibut and skates, the combined catch of which 
exhibited a large decrease both in the total and the average per 
voyage. 

Cod and haddock are the principal species taken, and of these the 
cod, the more important, was caught in greater quantities, while 
the take of haddock diminished. An examination of the following 
table shows that the improvement in the yield of cod was due solely 
to an increase in the quantity of small and medium fish marketed, 
the large fish undergoing an actual quantitative decrease. The same 
trend is shown in the catch of haddock, in which there was an actual 
increase in the quantities of medium and small fish in the face of a 
falling off in the total catch of the species. 

Proportion of ihe Trade Categories to Total Catches of Cod and Haddock 
Taken on Faroe Grounds by English Steam Trawlers in Quadrennial, 
Periods from 1906 to 1912. 



Species and sizes. 


1906-1909 


1909-1912 


Cod: 


Per cent. 
39.2 
36.1 
24.5 

72.2 

23.4 

4.2 


Per cent. 
21 8 






Small 


46 8 


Haddock: 


68 2 




20 6 


Small 


11 1 







In view of the relatively small importance of the line fishery, it is 
not considered necessary to discuss it more than in the presentation 
of the following table: 

Total Catch of Demersal Fishes, Classes, and Important Kinds by English 
Steam Liners Fishing on Faroe Grounds in 1906 and 1912. 



Classes and species. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight). 


Loss. 


1906 


1912 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 




81,662 
48,963 
27, 661 
29, S67 
462 
4 


41,461 
27,416 
12, 788 
14,827 
114 


40,201 
21,547 
14, 873 
15,040 
348 


49 




44 




53 


Cod 


50 




75 















The Faroe fishery, as a whole, furnishes no data of value respect- 
ing the plaice, but making due allowance for the shortness of the 
period considered, the data available establish some presumption of 
a decrease in the haddock and a suspicion that there may be over- 
fishing of the cod. 



76 OTTER-TEAWL FISHERY. 

DEMERSAL FISHERIES OF SCOTLAND. 
FISHING REGIONS. 

The Scottish reports furnish but little specific data respecting the 
fishing regions, such distinctions as are made indicating merely the 
part of Scotland in which the fish are landed, the east coast, Orkney, 
and Shetland, and the west coast, respectively. The latter two are 
of practically no importance to the purposes of this report and are 
not discussed. 

The major portion of the demersal fish caught in the Scottish 
fisheries are landed on the east coast; and as that is the region in 
which trawl fishing is of greatest importance, and as practically all 
fish taken in the North Sea by Scottish vessels are landed there, it is 
the only region which we have deemed it necessary to consider. 

FISHERIES OF THE EAST COAST. 

The statistics and the general information available for Scotland 
are not very satisfactory for the consideration of the effects of otter 
trawling on the fisheries, inasmuch as they lack, even to a greater 
extent than the earlier reports for England, that particularity of 
data which is necessary for a proper consideration of the subject. 
However, it is possible to trace some trend, and as this accords in 
general with that indicated in the English fisheries, it may be re- 
garded, with some caution, as confirmatory of the conclusions formed 
respecting the latter. 

In the following discussion the same historical periods and sub- 
periods are considered, partly for the sake of uniformity with the 
discussion of the English data and partly because the forms of the 
statistics underwent some change in the years of demarcation, or be- 
cause some change in the fishery became definitive in those years. 
For instance, 1898 is the first year concerning which it is known that 
all steam trawlers were using the otter trawl, which had gradually 
replaced the beam trawl ; in 1904 there was a change in the classifi- 
cation of the fishes; and in 1906 there was a material change in the 
particularity of the statistics in respect to certain important fisheries. 
The effects of these changes have been eliminated as far as possible 
in the following pages, but their existence dictated the form of the 
more comprehensive digest found in the appendix and colored the 
form of final presentation of the data adduced. 

THE CATCH AS A WHOLE. 

The east coast was by far the most important producer of de- 
mersal fishes in Scotland, the catch of that region in 1891 being over 
70 per cent of the total product of the country and in 1912 over 76 
per cent. 



OTTER-TKAWL FISHERY. 



77 



The statistical history of the yield of the region is shown in the 
following table: 

Catches of Demersal Fishes and the Several Classes on the East Coast of 
Scotland During the First and Last Years of Certain Periods. 



Classes and periods. 



Quantity (hundred- 
weight) during — 



First year. 



Last year. 



Increase or decrease 



Hundred- 
weight. 



Per cent. 



Demersal fishes: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Round fishes: o 

1891-1898 

189S-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Flat fishes:" 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Unclassified fishes: & 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Skates: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 



,339,051 
,465,426 
,724,525 
,955,718 
,299,311 
,339,051 

, 127, 452 
,267,938 
,413,385 
,668,275 
,979,205 
,127,452 

94, 745 
101,460 
170,013 
164, 295 
139,282 

94,745 

84,347 
47,373 
81, 182 
61,265 
105,256 
84,347 

32,506 
48,655 
59,945 
61,883 
75,568 
32,506 



1,465,426 
1,724,525 
1,955,718 
2,299,311 
2,544,897 
2,544,897 

1,267,938 
1,413,385 
1,668,275 
1,979,205 
2,179,555 
2,179,555 

101,460 
170,013 
164,295 
139, 282 
135,063 
135,063 

47,373 
81, 182 
61,265 
105,256 
119,810 
119,810 

48,655 
59,945 
61,883 
75,568 
110,469 
110,469 



126,375 
259,099 
231,193 
343,593 
245,586 



+ 1,205,846 



140,486 
145,447 
254, 890 
310,930 
200,350 



+ 1,052,103 



6,715 
68,553 

5,718 
25,013 

4,219 
40,318 

36,974 
33,809 
19,917 
43,991 
14,554 
35,463 

16, 149 
11,290 
1,888 
13, 735 
34,901 
77,963 



+ 9 
+ 17 
+ 13 
+ 17 
+ 10 
+ 90 

+ 12 
+ 11 

+ 18 
+ 18 
+ 10 
+ 93 

+ 7 
+ 67 

- 3 

- 15 

- 3 
+ 42 

- 43 
+ 71 

- 24 
+ 71 
+ 13 
+ 42 

+ 49 
+ 23 
+ 3 

+ 22 
+ 46 
+239 



a Excluding fishes classified after 1903. 



b Including fishes classified after 1903. 



From the foregoing table it is seen that there has been a constant 
and fairly uniform increase in the catch of demersal fishes, amount- 
ing in the aggregate to about 90 per cent from 1891 to 1912, and 
that both relatively and quantitatively this has been in major part 
produced by the constant increase in the catch of round fishes, which 
in the same period increased 93 per cent in quantity. 

Flat fishes registered an increase of 42 per cent for the period, 
due mainly to a heavy increase from 1898 to 1901, after which there 
Avas a decrease to and including 1912. Unclassified fishes, including 
those classified after 1903, fluctuated until 1903, but increased after- 
wards until the total at the end of the period was 42 per cent greater 
than in 1891. The catch of skates increased heavily and continu- 
ously throughout the period. 

Cod, haddock, flounder, plaice and brill, and halibut are the most 
important species of demersal fishes landed on the east coast of Scot- 
land, and these kinds combined constituted 55.8 per cent of the land- 



78 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



ings of demersal fishes of all Scotland in 1891, and about 53.3 per 
cent in 1912. Cod and haddock landed on the east coast in 1891 con- 
stituted nearly 61 per cent of Scottish round fishes and in 1912 
nearly 57 per cent. In 1891 the flat fishes enumerated comprised 
about 43 per cent, and in 1912, 25 per cent of the country's landing of 
flat fishes. Furthermore, the catch of each of these species on the 
east largely exceeds the catch in all other regions. For these reasons, 
it is necessary to consider these fishes only in discussing the fluctua- 
tions of the fishery. 

Catch per Annum at the Beginning and Ending of Certain Periods of Each 
of the More Important Species of Demersal Fishes Landed on the East 
Coast of Scotland. 



Species and periods. 



Quantity (hundred- 
weight) during — 



First year. 



Last year. 



Increase or decrease. 



Hundred- 
weight. 



Percent. 



Cod: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1912 

1891-1912 

Haddock: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Halibut: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Flounders, plaice, and brill 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 , 

Skate: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 , 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 



310,020 
429,431 
353, 506 
454,527 
310,020 

672, 156 
701,514 

795,883 
962, 122 
,027,988 
672, 156 

7,850 
19,000 
30, 377 
27, 350 
34, 168 

7,850 

64, 929 
59,276 
112,070 
101,710 
66, 861 
64, 929 

32, 506 
48, 655 
59,945 
61,883 
75, 568 
32,506 



429,431 
353, 506 
454, 527 
833, 636 
833, 636 

701,514 
795,883 
962, 122 
1,027,988 
853, 710 
853, 710 

19,000 
30, 377 
27,350 
34, 168 
43, 758 
43, 758 

59, 276 
112,070 
101,710 
66, 861 
47, 702 
47,702 

48,655 
59, 945 
61,883 
75, 568 
110,469 
110,469 



+119,411 

- 75,925 
+101,021 
+379, 108 
+523, 616 

+ 29,358 
+ 94,369 
+166,239 
+ 65,866 
-174,278 
+ 181,554 

+ 11,150 

+ 11,337 

- 3,027 
+ 6,818 
+ 9, 590 
+ 35,908 



- 5, 653 
+ 52,794 

- 10,360 

- 34,849 

- 19,159 

- 17,227 

+ 16,149 

+ 11,290 

+ 1,938 

+ 13,685 

+ 34,901 

+ 77,963 



+ 38 

- 17 
+ 28 
+ 83 
+168 

+ 4.3 

+ 13 

+ 14 

+ 68 

- 16 
+ 27 

+142 
+ 59 
-9.9 
+ 24 
+ 28 
+ 45 



+ 89 

- 9.2 

- 34 

- 28 

- 26 

+ 49 
+ 25 
+ 3.2 
+ 22 

+ 46 
+239 



From the foregoing it is apparent that both the cod and haddock, 
but especially the former, landed on the east coast of Scotland, 
exhibited material increases in total quantity between 1891 and 1912. 
and this increase occurred in all of the periods considered excepting 
from 1898 to 1901 in the case of the cod, and 1906 to 1912 in the case 
of the haddock. Halibut increased for the whole period and showed 
a recession only between 1901 and 1903, while flounder, plaice, and 
brill decreased on the whole and showed improvement between 1901 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



79 



and 1903 only. Skates increased constantly and consistently through- 
out the entire period considered. The increase in round fishes pre- 
viously noted is therefore due principally to cod, but in a consid- 
erable part to haddock also. The increase in flat fishes is due mainly 
to the improved catch of halibut. 

STEAM TRAWLERS. 

In 1891 over 98 per cent and in 1912 over 95 per cent of the steam 
trawlers of Scotland hailed from the east coast. The composition 
of the fleet prior to 1898 is not known, but it probably contained 
some beam trawlers, but in 1898, and thenceforth to the present 
time, all of the vessels were equipped with the more efficient otter 
trawl. The statistical history of this fleet is shown in the following 
table : 

Number of Scotch and Foreign Steam Otter Trawlers on the East Coast 
of Scotland During the First and Last Years of Certain Periods. 



Period. 


Number during— 


Increase or decrease. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


1891-1898 


60 
144 
254 
273 
261 

60 


144 
254 
273 
261 
306 
306 


+ 84 
+110 
+ 19 
- 12 
+ 45 
+246 


+123 
+ 77 

+ 7 


1898-1901 


1901-1 903 


1903-1906 


1906-1912 


+ 17 
+410 


1891-1912 





Total Catch by Steam Trawlers on the East Coast of Scotland in the 
First and Last Years of Certain Periods. 



Classes and periods. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight) during— 


Increase or decrease. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Demersal fishes: 

1891-1898 


332,950 

778, 731 

1,310,907 

1,543,679 

1,837,146 

332,950 

212,020 

660, 609 

1,079,526 

1,322,463 

1,585,889 

212,020 

80,492 
69,183 
112,998 
129, 175 
104,417 
80,492 


778,731 
1,310,907 
1,543,679 
1,837,146 
1,934,337 
1,934,337 

660,609 
1,079,526 
1,322,463 
1,585,889 
1,683,215 
1,683,215 

69,183 
112,998 
129, 175 

104,417 
84,413 
84,413 


+ 445,781 
+ 532,176 
+ 232,772 
+ 293,467 
+ 97, 191 
+ 1,601,387 

+ 448, 589 
+ 418,917 
+ 242,937 
+ 263,426 
+ 97,326 
+1,471,195 

- 11,309 
+ 43,815 
+ 16, 177 

- 24, 758 

- 20,004 
+ 3,921 


+ 133 

+ 68 
+ 17 
+ 19 
+ 5 
+480 

+211 


1898-1901 


1901-1903 


1903-1906 


1906-1912 


1891-1912 


Round fishes: 

1891-1898 


1898-1901 


+ 63 
+ 22 
+ 19 
+ 6 
+693 


1901-1903 


1903-1906 


1906-1912 


1891-1912 


Flatfishes: 

1891-1898 


— 14 


1898-1901 


+ 63 


1901-1903 


+ 14 


1903-1906 


— 19 


1906-1912 


— 19 


1891-1912 


+ 4 







S600G° — 15 6 



80 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



The catch of demersal fish by steam trawlers increased constantly 
during the period from 1891 to 1912, and at the end was 480 per 
cent greater than at the beginning. This was made up mainly of 
round fishes, taking into consideration those .species only which 
were so classified in all years. If to these were added the species 
which were classified after 1903, the increase would be practically 
entirely among the round fishes. 

The catch of flat fishes fluctuated, but there was a practical parity 
between 1891 and 1912, notwithstanding a heavy increase in the 
fleet shown in another place in this report. The history of the catch 
of the principal species of round fishes and flat fishes is shown in 
the following table: 

Total Catch of Important Species of Fishes by Steam Otter Trawlers on 
the East Coast of Scotland in the First and Last Years of Certain 
Periods. 



Species and periods. 



Quantity (hundred- 
weight) during — 



First year. 



Last year. 



Increase or decrease. 



Hundred- 
weight. 



Per cent. 



Cod: 

1891-1S98 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Haddock: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Halibut: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Flounders, plaice, and brill: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1900 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Skate: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 



33, 
165, 
203, 
311, 
462, 

33, 

157, 
461, 
706, 
S26, 
868, 
157, 



165,593 
203,099 
311,928 
462,476 
571,694 
571, 694 

461,208 
706,403 
826, 122 
868, 137 
469,099 
469,099 

1,520 
6, 665 
7,399 
12,679 
8,235 
8,235 

44,595 
93, 868 
86, 703 
53,711 
35,000 
35,000 

11,092 
25, 639 
33,342 
40, 707 
49,831 
49,831 



+ 132,004 
+ 37,506 
+ 108,819 
+ 150,448 
+ 109,222 
+538, 105 

+304, 149 
+245, 195 
+ 119,719 
+ 42,015 
-399,038 
+312,040 



1,486 
5,145 
734 
5,280 
4,444 
8,201 



- 6,489 
+ 49,273 

- 7, 165 

- 32,992 

- 18,711 

- 16,084 

+ 3,221 

+ 14,547 

+ 7,903 

+ 7,365 

+ 9,124 

+ 41,959 



392 
28 
53 
48 
23 



+ 1,062 



+ 



+ 



193 
53 
16 

5 
45 

198 



+ 4,370 

+ 338 

+ U 

+ 71 

- 34 
+24, 120 

- 12 
+ 110 

- 12 

- 38 

- 34 

- 31 



40 
131 
30 
22 
22 
533 



Cod and haddock, particularly the former, provided the major 
part of the recorded increase in round fishes, but their relative 
importance to the total catch of round fishes changed materially. 
In 1891 cod constituted about 16 per cent of trawled round fishes, 
and in 1912 over 33 per cent, while the proportion of haddock 
fell from 75 per cent to about 28 per cent. It appears from this 



OTTER-TKAWL FISHERY. 



81 



that, considering the increase in the fishing power of the trawl 
fleet, there was either a depletion of the haddock or the vessels 
resorted to other grounds, which would imply, although not posi- 
tively indicate, the same thing. A decrease in haddock would re- 
quire increased attention to other species, e. g., the cod, to main- 
tain the productiveness of the fishery. This is further elucidated in 
considering the average catch of the trawlers. 

In the case of flat fishes, halibut, which were of no importance in 
the catch in 1891, increased to almost 10 per cent of the whole class 
in 1912, while the category of flounder, plaice, and brill, which com- 
prised over 60 per cent in 1891, was reduced to about 42 per cent 
in 1912. This leads to the same assumptions as in the case of the 
cod and haddock. In other words, the most important fishes in 1891 
showed signs of depletion in 1912. 

The average catch per vessel probably furnishes the best avail- 
able criterion for comparison of the condition of the fishery in 
the several periods, and these data are tabulated below. The average 
per voyage and per days' absence can not be computed for lack of 
data. 

Average Catch per Annum per Steam Otter Trawler on the East Coast of 
Scotland During the First and Last Years of Certain Periods. 



Classes and periods. 


Quantity (hundred- 
weight) during— 


Increase or decrease. 


First year. 


Last year. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Demersal fishes: 

1891-1898 


5,549 
5,407 
5,161 
5,654 
7,038 
5,549 

3,533 

4,587 
4,250 
4,844 
6,076 
3,533 

1,340 
480 
444 
473 
400 

1,340 


5,407 
5,161 
5,654 
7,038 
6,321 
6,321 

4,587 
4,250 
4,844 
6,076 
5,500 
5,500 

480 
444 
473 
400 
275 
275 


- 142 

- 246 
+ 493 
+ 1,384 

- 717 
+ 772 

+ 1,054 

- 337 
+ 594 
+ 1,234 

- 576 
+ 1,967 

- 860 

- 36 
+ 29 

- 73 

- 125 
-1,065 


2 


1898-1901 




1901-1903 


+ 9 

+24 
10 


1903-1906 


1906-1912 


1891-1912 


+ 13 

+29 

7 


Round fishes: 

1891-1898 


1898-1901 


1901-1903 


+ 13 
+25 


1903-1906 


1906-1912 


1891-1912 


+55 
64 


Flat fishes: 

1891-1898 


1898-1901 


7 


1901-1903 


+ 6 
15 


1903-1906 


1906-1912 


31 


1891-1912 


79 







The average catch per steam trawler in respect to demersal fishes 
fluctuated irregularly between 1891 and 1912 but exhibited a net 
increase of about 13 per cent. The total yield of the fishery, there- 
fore, a little more than kept pace with the increase in the number 
of vessels but did not increase in proportion to the probable fishing 



82 



OTTER-TKAWL FISHERY. 



power as measured by the increase in average tonnage and general 
efficiency. 

Such improvement in the average yield as has been noted was due 
to round fishes alone, the average yield of that class in 1912 having 
increased about 55 per cent. Flat fishes in 1912 exhibited a loss of 
79 per cent as compared with 1891, and the decrease was continuous 
between those years with the exception of a small increase between 
1901 and 1903. 

Average Catch of Certain Species per Annum per Steam Otter Trawler on 
the East Coast of Scotland During the First and Last Years of Certain 
Periods. 



Species and periods. 



Quantity (hundred- 
weight) during — 



First year. 



Last year. 



Increase or decrease. 



Hundred- 
weight. 



Per cent. 



Cod: 

1891-189S 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1900-1912 

1891-1912 

Haddock: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Halibut: 

1891-1S98 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Flounders, plaice, and brill: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 

Skate: 

1891-1898 

1898-1901 

1901-1903 

1903-1906 

1906-1912 

1891-1912 



559 
1,149 

799 
1,142 
1,171 

559 

2,617 
3,202 
2,781 
3,027 
3,330 
2,617 



.50 



.50 



851 
309 
369 
317 
205 
851 

131 
77 
100 
122 
156 
131 



1,149 

799 
1,142 
1,771 

1,864 
1,864 

3,202 
2,781 
3,027 
3,330 
1,533 
1,533 

10 
26 
27 
48 
26 
26 

309 
369 
317 
205 
114 
114 

77 
100 
122 
156 
162 
162 



+ 590 

- 350 
+ 343 
+ 629 
+ 93 
+ 1,305 

+ 585 

- 421 

+ 246 
+ 303 
-1,797 
-1,084 



9.5 
16 
1 

21 
22 
25 

542 

60 

52 
112 

91 
737 

54 
23 
22 
34 
6 
31 



105 
30 
43 
55 
5 

233 

22 
13 
9 
10 
54 
41 



+ 1,696 
+ 160 
+ 4 
4- 77 

- 45 
+4,542 

- 64 
+ 20 

- 14 

- 35 

- 44 



An analysis of the foregoing table shows that the cod was the 
chief contributor to the increase in round fishes, increasing 233 per 
cent. This species supplanted the haddock in 1912 as the most im- 
portant round fish, although the latter maintained its quantitative 
supremacy in decreasing ratio to 1906. The average catch of had- 
dock underwent various vicissitudes of increase and decrease, but 
showed a net decrease of 41 per cent for the period as a whole. 
Eliminating the subperiod 1906 to 1912, there was a net increase of 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 83 

27 per cent, but even so its importance as compared with the cod 
showed a marked recession. 

The category of flounder, plaice, and brill was the most important 
element in the decrease of flat fishes, falling off almost continuously 
until in 1912 the average quantity taken by trawler was but 14 per 
cent of that of 1891. So far as trawlers are concerned, this category 
may be regarded as practically composed of plaice, as the quantity 
of the other two species comprised hardly more than 10 per cent in 
1906 and probably less than that in earlier years. 

It is evident, then, that, certainly with the plaice and probably 
with the haddock, the two essentially trawl-caught fish, the catch 
per trawler shows significant reduction, notwithstanding the pre- 
sumably increased efficiency of the vessels as measured by their in- 
creased size. As has been previously suggested in the discussion of 
the total catch by trawlers, this appears to mean that there is a de- 
pletion of the supply of these fishes on the grounds frequented by 
these vessels, or that the vessels are fishing to an increasing extent 
on grounds little resorted to in the earlier years of the period dis- 
cussed. The possible change in grounds in favor of the cod and to 
the detriment of the haddock and plaice catch can hardly, if it 
occurred, have any other reason than the depletion of the supply of 
the latter two species on the grounds previously resorted to, for the 
plaice has always been a more valuable species than the cod, and the 
haddock, while of approximately equal value to the cod in 1908 and 
previously, is now more valuable. 

The halibut is more valuable than any of the other fishes men- 
tioned, but the quantitative increase is not sufficient to offer an ex- 
planation of a change of fishing grounds, although the fact of the 
increase probably indicates that such change has occurred. There are 
no specific data to show where the fleet fished in the several years. 

The only other basis on which the foregoing comparisons could 
be made while eliminating the statistical effects of changes in the in- 
tensity of fishing activity would be through the consideration of the 
catch per landing. The data necessary are not available for the east 
coast as a whole, but they are recorded for the trawlers t fishing 
out of the ports of Montrose, Fraserburgh, and Aberdeen after 1905, 
which comprised nearly 80 per cent of the Scottish steam trawl fleet. 
This period is too short for a comparison of much value to the pur- 
poses of this report, but the data may be used to test in a measure 
the validity of the presumptions and discussions. The following 
table compares the percentile increases and decreases in the average 
catches of the trawlers from those ports per vessel and per landing: 



84 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



Increase ok Decrease in Quantity per Vessel and per Landing of Fishes 
Landed at Montrose, Fraserburgh, and Aberdeen by Steam Trawlers in 
1912, as compared with 1906. 



Species. 


Average catch per 

vessel. 


Average catch per 
landing. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 




-305 
+ 198 
-(597 

- 17 

- 27 
+ 10 


- 4.3 

+ 10.4 
-21.9 
-36.0 
-18.0 
+ 5.5 


- 6.0 
+ 4.1 
-13.8 

- .3 

- .5 
+ .2 


— 4.3 


Cod 


+ 10.6 




—21.8 




—35.9 




—17.3 




+ 5.5 







The number of landings per vessel was practically the same in the 
two years and, therefore, the table shows an almost exact parallelism 
in the percentile changes calculated on the two bases and tends to 
confirm the general validity of deductions based on the average catch 
per vessel. It is quite probable that in other years the results would 
not be in such exact accord, but it is equally probable that the diver- 
gence would not be sufficient to change the trend of the whole series 
of apparent facts. 

It has been seen that the landings of cod by steam trawlers on the 
east coast of Scotland have shown a practically continuous heavy 
increase in both aggregate quantity and the average per vessel dur- 
ing the period from 1891 to 1912. Haddock increased in total, but 
decreased in the average catch per trawler, while plaice displayed 
a practically continuous decrease in both. 

There are no data which will show the proportions of the several 
trade sizes of these species for the east coast as a whole, but they 
are available for Aberdeen for the period from 1906 to 1912; and 
as the great majority of the steam trawlers hail from that port, an 
analysis of the statistics is of interest. 

The records of the landings at Aberdeen indicate the general re- 
gions in which the fish were taken, and as the great majority of the 
voyages and but a slightly less proportion of the catch were made on 
the "east coast grounds," near Aberdeen, and on the northern 
grounds (Orkney and Shetland), the data respecting these two 
regions throw some light on the change of conditions of the fishery 
during the comparatively short period from 1906 to 1912. 

The following tables compare the percentile ratios and the quan- 
tities of cod, haddock, and plaice of the several sizes taken by steam 
trawlers at Aberdeen in 1906 to 1908, inclusive, and 1910 to 1912, 
inclusive, respectively: 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



85 



Average Annual Catch of Certain Fishes, in Hundredweights, per Steam 
Otter Trawler at Aberdeen, Scotland, 1906 to 1908 and 1910 to 1912, 
Respectively. 



Species and sizes. 


" East coast grounds." 


" Northern grounds." 


1906-1908 


1910-1912 


1906-1908 


1910-1912 


Cod: 


8.0 
4.9 


5.9 
7.2 


17.4 
15.1 


26.4 




31.0 






Total 


12.9 


13.1 


32.5 


57.4 






Haddock: 


5.2 

5.2 

21.1 


3.0 

3.1 

16.6 


43.0 
20.0 
42.3 


35.8 




15.6 


Small 


26.0 






Total 


31.5 


22.7 


105. 3 


77.4 






Plaice: 


.08 
1.30 
.18 


.05 
1.13 
.60 


.51 

2.07 
.15 


.33 




.70 


Small 


.06 






Total 


1.50 


1.78 


3.33 


1.09 







Average Annual Percentile Ratios of Sizes of Certain Fishes to Total of 
the Same Species Landed by Steam Otter Trawlers at Aberdeen, Scotland, 
in 1906 to 190S and 1910 to 1912, Respectively. 



Species and sizes. 


"East coast grounds." 


"Northern grounds." 


1900-1908 


1910-1912 


1906-1908 


1910-1912 


Cod: 


61.9 
38.1 

16.6 
16.2 
67.2 

5.1 
82.7 
12.2 


44.7 
55.3 

14.2 
13.8 
72.0 

2.6 
64.4 
33.0 


54.5 
45.5 

41.3 
18.9 
39.8 

20.8 
72.3 
6.8 


45.9 


Small (codling) 


54.1 


Haddock: 


46.4 


Medium 


20.1 


Small 


33.5 


Plaice: 


4.2 




88.0 


Small 


7.8 







On the "east coast grounds," which include »the fishing grounds 
nearest to Aberdeen, to which the voyages were shortest, most fre- 
quent, and most numerous, and on which the catch per voyage 
was least, there has been an increase in the proportionate quantity 
of the small sizes of all three species. In the case of the cod there 
have been a decrease in the actual quantity of large cod and an 
increase in the small, the species as a whole remaining stationary. 
In the haddock both the total and the several sizes have decreased 
in average catch, with small decreases in the proportion of large 
and medium sizes, and a corresponding increase in the proportion 
of small ones. In the plaice there was an increase in the catch, 
owing solely to a material increase in the small, the take of the 



80 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



other sizes having decreased both quantitatively and proportionately 
to the whole. 

On the "northern grounds" both large and small cod increased 
very materially, but the latter, which formed but 45 per cent of 
the catch in 1906 to 1908, constituted 54 per cent in 1909 to 1912. 
All sizes of haddock decreased, but the large and medium categories 
were both of proportionately greater importance in the catch in 
1909 to 1912 than in the earlier years, while the ratio of small fish 
to total haddock declined. There was a heavy quantitative decline 
in all sizes of plaice, but relatively the small, and especially the 
medium size, increased at the expense of the large fish. 

It appears from the foregoing that all of these fish, excepting the 
cod on the northern grounds, show signs of depletion either in a 
quantitative decrease in the catch of large sizes of fish, or a rela- 
tively greater catch of small sizes accompanied by a stationary 
or decreasing catch of the species as a whole. The evidence is most 
emphatic respecting the plaice, less conclusive as regards the had- 
dock, and contradictory in the case of the cod. The increase in the 
quantity and ratio of the catch of small cod on the northern grounds 
suggests increased attention to this species to compensate for some 
deficiency in other kinds, e. g., haddock and plaice. The period 
covered by this analysis is too short for the conclusions to carry 
great weight by themselves, but they are of value when considered 
with the deductions from other data previously examined. 

SCOTCH LINE FISHERIES. 

The number of line fishing boats and vessels on the east coast 
of Scotland can not be definitely determined from the reports, and 
the only data showing the extent of the fishery are those pertain- 
ing to the length of lines. 

Length of Lines Fished by Vessels of all Classes on the East Coast of 
Scotland During the First and Last Tears of Certain Periods. 



Periods. 


Length, in 1,000 yards. 


Decrease. 


First year. 


Last year. 


1,000 yards. 


Per cent 


1898-1901 


54,989 
46,320 
40, 230 
39,047 
54,989 


46,320 
40, 230 
39,047 
32, 888 
32,888 


8,669 
6,090 
1,183 
6,159 
22, 101 


15 


1901 1903. 


13 


1903-1906 


3 


1906-1912 


16 


1898-1912 


40 







The data are not available prior to 1898, but since then there has 
been a continuous and conspicuous decrease in the length of line. 
The smallest decrease occurred between 1903 and 1906, the only 
period in which the number of steam otter trawlers waned. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 



87 



Unfortunately the various classes of lines, "great," "small," and 
" hand," while all exhibiting heavy decreases, did not maintain their 
ratios to one another, and as they differ materially in their fishing 
power unit of length and as the catch of each was not separately 
recorded in the reports, it is unsafe to venture conclusions on the 
data available. 

Steam liners use more nearly one class of gear, great lines ; and as, 
so far as the statistics show, the other kinds of lines were used in 
negligible quantities, the statistics of those vessels are more nearly 
comparable in the several years, and afford the only basis for a 
comparative study of the intensity of the line fishery. 

Length of Trawl Lines Fished bt Steam Vessels on the East Coast of 
Scotland Dueing the First and Last Yeaes of Certain Periods. 





Length, in 1,000 yards. 


Increase. 




First year. 


Last year. 


1,000 yardsJ Per cent. 


1898-1901 


1,474 

3,195 
3,542 
6,050 
1,474 


3,195 
3,542 
6,050 
11,702 
11,702 


1,721 

347 

2,508 

5,652 

10,228 


117 
11 
71 
93 

693 


1901-1903 


1903-1906 


1906-1912 


1898-1912 





While the total length of lines. fished on the east coast of Scotland 
was decreasing, the length of the lines used by steam vessels was 
steadily and rapidly growing, but it was not until after 1903 that it 
exceeded 10 per cent of the total. In 1906 it comprised over 15 per 
cent, and in 1912 about 35 per cent. This kind of line was undoubt- 
edly more effective per unit of length than that fished from the sail- 
ing vessels, and the catch of steam liners should be separately con- 
sidered, but unfortunately the landings of these vessels were not 
separately recorded until 1906. 

Total Quantities of Demersal Fishes Taken by Steam Liners on the East 
Coast of Scotland in 1906 and 1912, Respectively. 





1906 


1912 


Gain. 


Classes and species. 


Hundred- 
weight. 


Per cent. 


Total demersal fishes 


Hundred- 
weight. 
162, 195 
109,481 
20,836 
31,567 
o311 
52,047 
114 
20,836 


Hundred- 
weight. 
255,414 
161,679 
35,047 
57,956 
a 732 
61,291 
345 
35,044 


93,219 
52, 198 
14,211 
26,389 

421 
9,244 

231 
14,208 


57 
48 
68 
83 

138 
17 

202 


Round fishes. ... 




Skate 


Unclassified 


Cod 


Haddock 


Halibut 


68 





o Includes fishes classified since 1903. 



88 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

There is here shown a percentile increase in the total catch of all 
categories and important species of demersal fishes, greatest among 
the unclassified fishes in respect to general categories and in had- 
dock among the specific kinds. As this increase occurred pari passu, 
with a heavy increase in fishing activity or power, any significance 
which the facts presented may possess can be shown cnly by reducing 
the data of the two years to a comparative basis. 

Two standards of fishing activity suggest themselves — the length 
of line employed in the respective years and the number of land- 
ings, but the two sets of results obtained by reducing the total catch 
to the average per 1,000 yards of line and the average per landing at 
those ports in which both are obtainable are contradictory and un- 
reconcilable on any basis of which we have been able to conceive. 
This throws doubt on any deductions which might be drawn in re- 
spect to the data pertaining to the east coast steam liners as a whole. 
The uncertainties as to the lengths of the voyages on the one hand 
and to the character of the lines fished on the other make a further 
discussion futile, and the subject is mentioned here merely to show 
that it has been considered. 

CHANGES IN THE UNCLASSIFIED FISHES. 

The Scottish reports distinguish between two general groups of 
demersal fishes, classified and unclassified, the former including 
round fishes, flat fishes, and skates. The classified fishes embrace all 
of the more important kinds, which in most cases are separately 
designated, while the unclassified fish comprise a miscellaneous lot 
not separately listed and of minor importance in both quantity and 
value. 

Until 1903 there were but 11 or 12 species in the classified lists, but 
in 1904 a number of species were transferred from the unclassified 
category, the total quantity of which was thereafter somewhat re- 
duced to the benefit of the other categories. These changes are in 
themselves significant, but when accompanied by an increase in the 
ratio of unclassified to demersal fishes as a whole they indicate that 
the supply of classified fishes is unequal to the demand; and when 
the catch of certain species, as for instance the haddock and the 
plaice, exhibit a falling off, as has been shown in preceding pages, 
it means not that the commercial incentive to catch them has been 
lessened, but that the supply is insufficient. 

This subject need not be considered further here than to say that 
since 1904, when the unclassified fishes were reduced by transfer, 
their ratio to all demersal fishes has increased from 0.5 per cent to 
4.2 per cent in 1906, 4.9 per cent in 1910, and 4.6 per cent in 1912. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 89 

SUMMARY, EAST COAST OF SCOTLAND. 

On the east coast of Scotland demersal fishes and round fishes both 
showed a continuous increase in the quantities landed from 1891 to 
1912, and flat fishes increased until 1901, after which they decreased. 
These increases are due largely, if not wholly, to the development of 
steam trawling, which was responsible for about 25 per cent of the 
catch in 1891, 75 per cent in 1901, and about the same in 1912. The 
total catch of the trawlers, therefore, follows the same course, 
although the increases are heaviest between 1891 and 1901, when the 
fleet was developing most rapidly. 

Neither the average length of the voyages nor the number of days' 
absence in the several years are known, and the only basis for the 
determination of the catch per unit of effort is the catch per annum 
per trawler. With some fluctuations this has shown an increase in 
respect to both demersal fishes as a whole and round fishes, and an 
almost continuous and material decrease in flat fishes. As has been 
shown elsewhere, this does not furnish a very satisfactory basis for 
comparison, as the effects of vessels lying idle for indeterminate and 
possibly important periods are not eliminated. 

As in England, cod, haddock, and plaice are the most important 
species, and of these the latter is recorded in combination with two 
other species, neither of which, however, is quantitatively of much 
relative importance. Of these the cod has almost continuously in- 
creased in the average catch per vessel, and the net gain from 1891 
to 1912 was large. The haddock has fluctuated, but in most years 
the average catch per vessel was higher than in 1891, although a 
heavy fall in 1912 caused a net decrease of 41 per cent for the entire 
period. The plaice, including the flounder and the brill, has de- 
creased almost continuously, and the catch of 1912 was but 14 per 
cent of that of 1891. At a few ports where the number of landings 
has been given in later years, the average catches per voyage in 1912, 
as compared with 1906, showed an increase of 10 per cent in cod, a 
decrease of nearly 22 per cent in haddock, and a decrease of 17 per 
cent in plaice. As to the proportions of the several sizes of these 
fishes, data are available for the landings at Aberdeen, whence hail 
the majority of the trawlers, but for recent years only. The catch 
on the "east coast grounds" in near-by portions of the North Sea 
exhibited an increase in the proportionate quantity of the small sizes 
of all three species. From the region of Orkney and Shetland, on 
the northwest border of the North Sea, large cod and plaice de- 
creased proportionately to the whole, while large and medium had- 
dock increased somewhat. While all of the foregoing applies to fish 
landed on the east coast of Scotland from all regions, most of them 
came from the North Sea, concerning which, it may be said, there- 



90 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

fore, that there is strong evidence of a depletion of the plaice and 
some evidence of a falling off in the haddock, the two most distinctly 
trawl-caught fish. 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. 

1. Otter trawls do not destroy the spawn of the commercially im- 
portant demersal fishes, all of which have pelagic or floating eggs. 

2. Otter trawls do not seriously disturb the bottom over which 
they are fished nor materially denude it of the organisms which di- 
rectly and indirectly serve as food for commercial fishes. 

3. The investigations conducted by the Bureau of Fisheries indi- 
cated that during 1913 trawling interfered but little with line fish- 
ing and caused practically no damage to the trawl lines. From the 
nature of the two fisheries, however, it is believed both can not be 
extensively conducted on the same grounds without resultant acci- 
dental damage to or interference with the lines, especially in foggy 
weather. 

4. Otter trawls as compared with lines take a much larger propor- 
tion of commercial fishes too small to market. From January to 
May 3 per cent of the cod and 11 per cent of the haddock, and from 
June to December 40 per cent of the cod and 38 per cent of the had- 
dock were unmarketably small, while the lines caught practically no 
such fish. These proportions were fully maintained in the respective 
classes of vessels fishing at the same season on the same grounds. 
These young fish are practically all destroyed. 

5. Otter trawls as compared with trawl lines market a much larger 
proportion of small fish, and, therefore, they not only destroy more 
small fish not utilized, but are biologically more wasteful, by reason 
of the smaller size of the marketable fish. As, however, a large pro- 
portion of these smaller fish would undoubtedly die or be destroyed 
under natural conditions before reaching the large or medium size, 
the effects on the total supply of fish are less to a conceivable, but at 
present indeterminable, degree than the data presented would 
indicate. 

6. Practically the only food fish which the otter trawl has added 
to the present yield of the fisheries on the banks is the " sole," of 
which about 600,000 pounds were caught in 1913. This is equal to 
about three times the quantity of hake, 36 per cent of the cod, and 
5 per cent of the haddock, or about 4 per cent of the three combined 
marketed by the trawlers. On the other hand, it is estimated that 
this is less than one-third of the weight of the immature cod, had- 
dock, and hake destroyed by otter trawls. The trawlers have not 
added greatly to the food supply by the introduction of fishes not 
previously taken in quantities by the liners. They may have con- 
ferred some benefit on the consumer by catching and marketing 



OTTEK-TEAWL FISHERY. 91 

larger quantities of the smaller and cheaper fishes of the cod family, 
provided, of course, that this does not induce the depletion of the 
ultimate supply. Both trawlers and liners catch considerable quan- 
tities of edible species for which they have failed to develop a 
market. 

7. There is but little evidence to show that the introduction of 
the otter trawl in the American fisheries has had any material effect 
in keeping down the price of fish. Since 1898 there has been a 
gradual, although fluctuating, increase in the price received by the 
fishermen for all kinds of fish. The haddock has increased propor- 
tionately less than the other demersal fishes and since 1908 has kept 
close to or below the level of that year, and this is probably, to no 
small extent, due to the large quantities of small and cheaper fish 
landed by the trawlers. The catch of the American trawlers, how- 
ever, is too small in proportion to the total production of demersal 
fisheries to have a material effect on prices, and we have therefore 
examined the price statistics of England to determine what light 
they shed on the subject. We find that while, apparently, the otter 
trawl reduced the cost of production of fish for a number of years 
after it become paramount in the fishery of that country, it did it to 
some extent by reducing the standards of size, and that recently there 
has been a rapid increase in the prices of fish which are now higher 
than ever. Undoubtedly the general increase in commodity prices 
has had some effect. 

8. We have been unable to discover from the examination of offi- 
cial records, extending from 1891 to 1914, any evidence whatever 
that the banks frequented by the American otter trawlers are being 
depleted of their fishes. Since 1905 when the first steam trawler 
began operations off the New England coast there have been fluctua- 
tions in the total yield of the bank fisheries, but they have been no 
more violent nor significant than in the period before 1905 when 
lines alone were used. In fact, some of the heaviest yields recorded 
in the line fishery have been made in years since the otter trawl was 
introduced, and, while the catch of line fishemen in 1914 on Georges 
Bank, South Channel, and Nantucket Shoals, where the otter trawl- 
ers operate, was less than half of that in the extraordinary year 1905, 
this was accompanied by a proportionate reduction in the intensity 
of the fishery as measured by the number of trips to these grounds. 
The average catches per trip of haddock and of cod, haddock, and 
hake combined have been considerably higher since 1910 than for 
any similar period of which we have record. The average catch of 
cod per trip to these banks has decreased since 1910, but it is higher 
than for any similar period prior to the introduction of otter trawl- 
ing. As the liners catch, proportionately, more cod and the trawlers 
more haddock on these banks, and as quantitatively the liners catch 



92 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

more of each, the statistical facts of the fishery eertainly do not 
indicate that it has yet shown signs of depletion from the use of 
the otter trawl. 

9. We recognize that the conclusions arrived at in the preceding 
section are necessarily inconclusive for the reason that the otter- 
trawl fishery in American waters is too recently established and 
relatively too small to have had a very material effect on the fish 
supply of the banks frequented. We have therefore examined the 
accessible data relating to the fishery in England and Scotland, par- 
ticularly that conducted in the North Sea, where it is most intensive 
and has been longest established. We have used the data without 
reference to the opinions others have expressed and have endeavored 
to arrive at independent conclusions without prejudice from previous 
investigations of the subject. While the statistical information, par- 
ticularly that contained in the English reports, is more useful for the 
purpose than is that pertaining to our own fishery, it is in recent 
years only that it is given in sufficient detail. Proof respecting the 
depletion of the fisheries, on the contrary, can not be deduced. The 
most possible has been the establishment of more or less strong pre- 
sumptions one way or the other. 

10. The cod, haddock, and plaice are the most important and 
abundant of the demersal fishes of the North Sea, and the three 
combined comprise about 75 per cent of the catch. English vessels 
take between 50 and 60 per cent of the total of these species landed 
from the North Sea, and the English trawlers alone take from 45 
to 50 per cent. These three fishes are, therefore, the only ones 
which it is important to consider. 

The statistical data of the English fisheries indicate by a decrease 
in the total catch, in the average catch per unit of effort, and in 
the proportion of large fish to the total that probably the plaice 
fishery is being depleted. The first two criteria also point to a 
decrease in the haddock, and it is believed that the third test fails 
to do so only because a lowering in the standard of sizes makes the 
statistics in this particular misleading. The cod does not show in- 
dications of overfishing, probably because its different habits make 
it less vulnerable to the effects of the predominant fishery, steam 
trawling. 

The statistics of Scotland are less satisfactory for our purpose 
than are those of England, and it is not possible to obtain sufficient 
separate data for the North Sea. We have therefore considered 
the fuller information obtainable in respect to the east coast, the 
fishery of which is prosecuted mainly in the North Sea. The same 
three species are discussed, the catch of these by Scotch vessels in 
the North Sea proper constituting about 25 per cent of the total 
yield of the three in that sea. The plaice show signs of depletion 



OTTER- TRAWL FISHERY. 93 

in the heavy decrease of the total yield and of the average catch 
per vessel and in the proportion of large fish to the smaller sizes. 
While the haddock has increased in the total catch, the average 
catch per vessel has fluctuated to an extent which makes any deduc- 
tions from the data uncertain; and there is a small decrease in the 
relative proportion of large fish compared with the total. The cod 
has increased in total catch and in the average catch per vessel, 
but relatively fewer larger fish were taken in later years. 

Considering the English and Scotch fisheries in the North Sea 
together, there is a strong presumption of overfishing in the case 
of the plaice, considerable evidence of the same thing in respect to 
the haddock, and practically none concerning the cod. As the steam 
trawler is overwhelmingly predominant in the fisheries for these 
species, it must be held responsible for such overfishing as may 
have occurred. 

11. Three regions other than the North Sea support more or less 
important English trawl fisheries yielding essentially the same species 
which have been discussed. They are Iceland, the White Sea, and the 
Faroe Islands. Separate data concerning them are available for 
years subsequent to 1905, and while the period covered is too short 
to admit of deductions of much value, it has been employed for 
purposes of comparison with the North Sea. 

In Iceland the total catch of both haddock and plaice and the 
average catch of each, especially the latter, showed heavy decreases, 
while the cod increased. In all species, but particularly the plaice, 
there was a decrease in the proportion of large sizes to the total. 

In the White Sea the total catch of all species increased from 
1906 to 1912, but this was in part due to an increase in fishery 
activity. As measured by the quantity caught per trip there was 
an enormous increase in cod, a heavy increase in haddock, and a 
heavy decrease in plaice. The proportion of large fish was approxi- 
mately maintained in the cod and plaice but was much smaller in 
later years in the case of the haddock, thus indicating that the in- 
crease in the catch of that species was due to the saving of smaller 
fishes previously discarded or unsought. 

In the Faroes there was a slight increase in the average catch 
of cod per trip, owing mainly to an increase in the smaller sizes, 
and a decrease in the haddock, accompanied by a similar increase 
in the take of smaller fish. The catch of plaice was negligible in 
all years. 

The data from these regions are therefore in general confirma- 
tory of those relating to the North Sea, namely, that there is a pre- 
sumptive decrease in the plaice, a probable smaller decrease in the 
haddock, and little or no change in the numbers of cod. 



94 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

12. The North Sea embraces an area of about 152,000 square miles, 
which is not all equally productive and part of which is resorted to 
not at all or very little by English and Scotch trawlers. Georges 
Bank, South Channel, and Nantucket Shoals cover about 9,800 
square miles, a considerable but indeterminate part of which is not 
resorted to by fishermen and presumably not by fishes in large 
numbers. 

In 1913 English and Scotch (Aberdeen) otter trawlers only made 
50,590 fishery trips to the North Sea. Assuming the entire area of 
the sea to have been fished, there was one trip to each 3 square 
miles. In the same year 326 trips to Georges Bank, South Channel, 
and Nantucket Shoals were made by American otter trawlers, which 
therefore had 30 square miles of bottom to each trip. 

This unsatisfactory comparison is the best that we can give of the 
relative intensity of the otter-trawi fishery in the North Sea and on 
the banks frequented by the American trawlers. In the estimate re- 
specting the North Sea some unproductive bottom is included and 
the trawlers of other nationality than the British are omitted, and 
the estimate of 3 square miles is too high. In the case of the 
American banks a considerable unproductive area is also included, 
and while all trawlers are taken into account the estimate of 30 
square miles is also too high, but in neither case can we estimate the 
error. The most specific information concerns the Dogger Bank, 
having an area of 6,216 square miles, to which English trawlers 
made 2,196 trips in 1913, or approximately a trip to each 3 square 
miles. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

While the facts before us show no proof or presumption of any de- 
pletion of the fisheries on the banks frequented by American otter 
trawlers, it is possible that the seeds of damage already have been 
sown and that their fruits may appear in the future or that the 
development of a wholly unregulated fishery eventually may result 
in injury where none now exists. The matter presented for our con- 
sideration is the safeguarding of the food supply not only of the ex- 
isting but of coming generations, and we are therefore less concerned 
with present conditions than with those which may develop, less 
with the immediate interests of the parties to the controversy re- 
specting otter trawling than with the ultimate interests of the entire 
country in the perpetuation of some sort of productive fishery for 
all time. 

We have in the history of our own bank fisheries sufficient infor- 
mation to warrant the belief that there is but little danger of their 
depletion by line fishing as at present conducted, but there is no 
such accumulation of data respecting the recently introduced otter 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 95 

trawl; and for an indication of what may be expected from it we 
must have recourse to the history of the fishery in other places. 
Otter trawling has been practiced longest and has attained its great- 
est development in the North Sea, where there appears to be ample 
evidence that it is being carried on tc excess and that the fisheries for 
certain fishes have suffered in consequence. The problem before us, 
therefore, is to suggest measures for the prevention of the develop- 
ment of similar conditions in the American fisheries. 

The injurious effects of the otter-trawl fishery in the North Sea 
are believed to be in part due to the destruction of large numbers of 
small fish, and it has been proposed by certain European authorities 
to reduce its destructiveness by increasing the size of the meshes of 
the net to dimensions which will permit the escape of fishes too small 
to market. We do not regard this as an effective or feasible pro- 
posal for the reasons (1) that the meshes tend to close as the drag 
on the net increases with its burden, (2) that the accumulation of 
fishes in the cod end closes the avenues of escape there, and (3) that 
the fishes in any event would not attempt to pass through in large 
numbers until the net is being hauled in, when the possibility of 
escape would be reduced to a minimum. An increase in the size of 
the mesh in the cod end of the net would probably result in an 
increase in the number of fish gilled, thus not only inducing little 
mitigation of the destruction of young fishes but entailing additional 
labor in fishing the apparatus. 

There remain three other methods of regulation : The absolute pro- 
hibition of the use of the otter trawl or similar apparatus; the re- 
striction of the number of nets or vessels which may be employed; 
and the restriction of the area on which the apparatus may be used. 

The first and most drastic measure would of course be most effec- 
tive, but in view of the fact that it appears to be the excessive use of 
the otter trawl which has caused injury to the North Sea we do not 
regard it as justifiable to prohibit its use on the American banks 
where it is not yet shown to be injurious. In other words, our pres- 
ent information indicates that it is not fishing with the otter trawl 
but overfishing which is to be guarded against. The fact that it is 
undoubtedly more destructive than line fishing is not sufficient for 
its condemnation, for the same objection can be raised with more or 
less validity to almost any other net fishery, and we do not know 
to what extent the destruction of young fishes in the open seas in 
reality injures the fisheries. 

The regulation or restriction of the number of vessels or trawls 
permissible in the fishery we regard as objectionable for the reason 
that it would establish an actual or virtual monopoly. The regula- 
tion could be made effective only by the issuance of a limited number 

86066°— 15 7 



96 OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 

of licenses or permits, and this would involve either some selection 
or discrimination among the applicants by the issuing authority or 
an undiscriminating issuance of permits to the earlier applicants 
and their refusal to those making application after the predeter- 
mined number had been granted. 

The restriction of the use of the otter trawl to certain definite 
banks and grounds appears the most reasonable, just, and feasible 
method of regulation which has presented itself to us. 

It would have the effect of automatically placing some limitation 
on the number of vessels engaged in the fishery, for the reason that 
caution would be imposed on prospective investors by virtue of their 
knowledge that no other fishing grounds were open to exploitation if 
those allotted to them should be exhausted. 

It would cause the trawlers, for reasons of self-interest, to exercise 
care to reduce as far as possible such abuses or economic defects as 
may be inherent in the method and to eliminate those which are not 
essential to it. The results of offenses against good fishery practices 
would be imposed directly on the prime offenders and would be 
mitigated to those using other methods by their freedom of resort 
to other areas where the evils would be manifested little or not at all. 

Any injury to the fishery which might result from the develop- 
ment of otter trawling under such restriction would be localized. It 
would manifest itself chiefly on the banks to which the fishery might 
be restricted and, especially in respect to the haddock, the fish likely 
to be most severely affected, would extend but little or not at all to 
the banks from which the otter trawl might be excluded. There- 
fore neither the whole, nor even the major part of our bank fish- 
eries, could be depleted by any conceivable development of otter 
trawling under such restraint. 

Being thus localized, inherent evils would more certainly manifest 
themselves, the effects could be more closely observed and more 
quickly and surely detected, the fishery could be kept under closer 
and more accurate observation, and it would be possible by compari- 
son with the conditions on the proscribed banks to discriminate in 
some measure between accidental fluctuations in the abundance of 
the fishes and those which might be due to overfishing. 

We therefore recommend that the taking of fishes, excepting shell- 
fishes, by means of the otter trawl or beam trawl, or any adaptation or 
modification of either, or by any other apparatus drawn over the 
bottom by a vessel in motion, be prohibited on all bottoms in the 
Atlantic Ocean, outside of territorial jurisdiction, north of the for- 
tieth degree of north latitude, excepting Georges Bank, South Chan- 
nel, and Nantucket Shoals east of the meridian of Sankaty Head 
on the island of Nantucket. 



OTTER-TRAWL FISHERY. 97 

This will retain to the otter trawlers sufficient ground on which 
to prosecute their calling, it will not exclude the liners therefrom, 
and it will reserve to the latter exclusively the banks to which they 
make over two-thirds of their trips. It gives a large measure of 
absolute protection to the important line fisheries of New England, 
and at the same time will permit the development of an otter-trawl 
fishery for flounders and other bottom fishes from New Jersey south- 
ward on bottoms where they are not, and probably can not be, taken 
in large quantities by any other means. The flounder fishery of 
Massachusetts being conducted in territorial waters will not be in- 
terfered with. The regulation can be readily enforced, because the 
open areas are well known, well defined, and can be kept under sur- 
veillance. Moreover, every line fisherman in the area affected will 
be a self-constituted fish warden, prompted by every motive of self- 
interest to bring infractions of the regulation to the attention of the 
proper authorities. 

It must be understood that this recommendation is based on what 
we believe to be the conditions at this time. Next year or 10 or 20 
years hence they may be different, and it will be necessary to closely 
observe the developments of the future to the end that a situation 
shall not arise such as has arisen in the North Sea, which will be 
recognized as requiring correction, but which will present such far- 
reaching and important economic aspects as to make rectification 
difficult or impossible. 

In conclusion, we emphatically state it to be our opinion that this 
regulation will prove futile and an unnecessary imposition on Ameri- 
can fishermen unless Canada, particularly, and, possibly, Newfound- 
land and France will take such action as will prevent or restrict the 
use of the trawl on the banks in the western North Atlantic. 



o 



